Rob Portman: “I rise today to join my colleagues to express my opposition to an employer mandate in any health care reform plan…”

“I rise today to join my colleagues to express my opposition to an employer mandate in any health care reform plan, particularly because of its impact on small businesses. This is the very sector of the economy that is the engine of economic growth and job creation in my district and across America. Studies have concluded that an employer mandate would not just stunt this growth, but result in significant job losses. For example, NFIB's recently released study projected that 850,000 jobs will be lost as a result of the Clinton plan, 410,000 of which will occur in firms with less than 100 employees. The American Legislative Exchange Council estimate that more than 45,000 jobs would be lost in Ohio alone. This is not the time to burden small businesses with national policies that discourage job creation. In the Cincinnati area I represent, many of the larger companies have laid off workers in the last few years. It's the smaller firms that have been adding jobs and keeping our local economy growing. Following a national trend, our local small businesses added about 12,000 jobs from June 1992 to June 1993. We should be doing all we can to further this job creation, not destroy it. I support the goal of providing universal access to affordable health care. But there are better ways to get at health care security than risking people's job security.”