On the recordJanuary 13, 2017
I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Chairman, it is not a surprise, when you try to take over such a sizable chunk of America's economy, that you have all sorts of unintended bad consequences. I am going to focus on two consequences that are true of so many programs that the government puts out there. First of all, ObamaCare is one more program that discourages work. If you talk to your accountants again and again, they will tell you stories of people who are very conscious of the fact that, as they get a raise, as they work more overtime, they lose big subsidies. If I were to lose my next election, ObamaCare would continue. As my income would go up from $49,000 to $50,000, I would get hammered with a $4,500 loss. So it wouldn't be surprising that people in my position would be very careful not to get a raise or not to work overtime. Even worse, this is one more government program that discourages marriage. If you have a single parent who is making $20,000 and if he decided to marry somebody making $30,000 or $40,000, he would be hammered with a $3,500 loss. Combined with the FoodShare program, the low-income housing subsidies, Pell grants, and various TANF programs, this is just one more step that the American Government has taken to discourage work and to discourage marriage.
