Obama claims health law not hurting jobs, amid union leaders saying it does
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President Obama, in a heavily partisan speech defending his signature health care law, claimed Thursday “there’s no widespread evidence” it is hurting jobs — despite widespread reports that businesses are cutting back worker hours in order to avoid extra costs tied to the law.
The charge that ObamaCare is driving Americans into part-time work is one of the central claims that opponents make in arguing for the law to be defunded or delayed. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reiterated the claim during his 21-hour floor speech against ObamaCare this week.
But the president, while promoting the law to a friendly audience in suburban Washington, brushed off the argument.
Most of the stories you’ll hear about how ObamaCare just can’t work, they’re just not based on fact,” Obama said.
He continued: “They said this would be a disaster in terms of jobs. There’s no widespread evidence that the Affordable Care Act is hurting jobs. … Reforming health care’s going to help the economy over the long-term.”
The claim flies in the face of what union leaders have been telling the White House and Democratic lawmakers for months.
In a widely noted letter to Democratic leaders over the summer, the heads of the Teamsters and other unions argued that “perverse incentives” were hurting jobs.
Unless the law is changed, they wrote, “the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour workweek that is the backbone of the American middle-class.”
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