Memo to Reporters & Editors: Hatch Amendments to Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today filed the following job-creating amendments to the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act that is being debated in the Senate:

• Hatch Amendment #2906, an amendment to repeal the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices:  This amendment would repeal the roughly $31 billion tax on medical device companies in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to promote innovation, preserve high-paying  jobs, and encourage economic growth for manufacturers of lifesaving medical devices and cutting edge medical therapies.
• Hatch Amendment #2905, an amendment to repeal the employer mandate to offer health coverage:This amendment would permanently repeal the employer mandate in PPACA, which requires employers to offer government-defined health coverage.  Repealing this provision would allow businesses to invest, hire new workers and allow families to choose the coverage of their choice.  This mandate on employers with 50 or more employees to offer Washington-approved coverage or pay a penalty of $2,000 per full-time employee (FTE) has already led to the hiring freezes, reductions in work hours and dropping of health care benefits. Though the Administration has recognized problems with the employer mandate and delayed it for two years for some businesses, the Hatch amendment would permanently repeal the ill-conceived mandate.

• Hatch Amendment #2903, an amendment to preserve program integrity:This amendment would require states, as part of their Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) agreements, to certify that paying retroactive benefits as required under the bill will not lead to an increase in fraud and overpayments in unemployment benefits.

• Hatch Amendment #2904, an amendment to eliminate retroactivity:As an alternative to the certification amendment, this amendment would eliminate the requirement in the bill that states pay retroactive unemployment benefits and put an end to concerns that such benefits will lead to an increase in fraud and overpayments.

• Hatch Amendment #2902, an amendment to promote work and job search:This amendment would require EUC recipients to engage in 40 hours a week of either qualified work search or activities that meet the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work requirements. 

• Hatch Motion to Commit:Hatch filed a motion to commit the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act to the Senate Finance Committee to strip the pension smoothing and customs user fees offsets and find spending cuts to make up the difference.

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