On the recordJuly 10, 2012
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The President said throughout the debate of health care and since, if you like what you have, you can keep it. Employers have told us that's simply not true. The President said, throughout the debate and since on the health care bill, the mandate is not a tax. A couple of weeks ago, the Supreme Court disagreed and said the mandate was a tax. Today, in this Capitol, there was an executive with White Castle, a company headquartered in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, a family-owned, family-run business with almost 10,000 employees, which has been providing health insurance to their full-time employees since 1924. And he testified today that the bill is a tax and that it will impact their ability to provide health care to their employees. Their health care may be too generous, and they'll be taxed. Their health care may not be generous enough, and they will be taxed. Furthermore, he testified that White Castle will not expand. They've put on hold expansion of 400 to 500 jobs that would be created with their expansion beyond the 12 States they're in. One day I got a call from another employer, in my district, with 48 individuals. He had just come from his tax preparer, who told him not to expand his business--not to expand his business. He provides health care to his employees. But he was told not to go over 50 because he'd have to comply with the Federal Government and the Federal bureaucracy, new rules, new taxes, and new regulations.…
