The House will vote again on Thursday to lengthen Obamacare’s full-time workweek definition to 40 hours, but the Senate has work to do before it can hope to get its first anti-Obamacare bill to the president’s desk.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said making the switch from 30 to 40 hours is at the top of the GOP’s Obamacare priorities, along with repealing a tax on the medical-device industry. But an immediate slam dunk could prove elusive.
Lobbyists backing the workweek bill said they haven’t yet lined up the 60 votes — including at least six Democrats, who would have to cross party lines despite the renewed White House veto threat — needed to bring the measure to the Senate floor.
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The independent Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that the House’s bill would add $53.2 billion to the deficit from 2015 to 2025. That’s because fewer businesses would pay fines and because some of the employees who would have been covered at work will instead get subsidies to buy plans on the Obamacare exchanges.
