Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed the first piece of legislation of the 114th Congress, the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015 (H.R. 22), with overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill would help veterans find work by exempting them from one of Obamacare’s mandates on small businesses. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) delivered the following statement.

“Mr. Speaker, only a law as bad as Obamacare would penalize a small business for hiring a veteran. Right now, the law says, ‘If you have at least 50 full-time employees, you must give all of them health insurance – even if they’re already getting health insurance.’

“In fact, over 9 million veterans are already getting health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But they’re not exempt. Every employer has to cover them anyway. So what’s happening? Businesses have an incentive to turn away veterans – not because they don’t want to hire them, but because Obamacare makes it too expensive to hire them.

“Mr. Speaker, nobody works harder than the men and women of our military. They’ve fought for our country. They’ve sacrificed. The way I see it, we owe it to them: We should make it as easy as possible for them find a job. And that’s what we’re doing here.

“What this bill says is, ‘If you’re already getting health care through TRICARE or the VA, then you’re exempt from the mandate.’ Anyone can hire you – without fear of this penalty. I think we can all agree: More veterans on the payroll means a healthier economy for all of us.

“Now, I think all working families need relief from Obamacare. All working families deserve affordable, high-quality health care. So I consider this bill the first installment of House Republicans’ plan to dismantle Obamacare and support working families.

“I want to thank Congressman Davis for introducing this bill. And I want to encourage all of my colleagues to support it.”

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