Joe Pitts: “We have talked a lot about how this bill is distracting us from the issue that the American people want us to focus on…”

“We have talked a lot about how this bill is distracting us from the issue that the American people want us to focus on, and that is jobs. But this bill isn't just merely a distraction. It will have a profoundly negative impact on the job market. You cannot raise taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars on individuals and businesses and expect that it has no impact on employers and employees. Raising taxes per employee by $2,000 would not encourage businesses to hire more workers, and workers receiving health care subsidies would see their new Federal entitlement evaporate when their wages increase by too much. Under this bill, more pay could mean less health care, effectively trapping workers in lower-wage jobs. So not only would this discourage job growth, it would discourage wage growth also. The bottom line is this bill will destroy jobs at a time when we can least afford it.”