During the February 9 airing of This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) said the loss of work hours due to Obamacare could actually be a good thing because Americans work too much anyway, compared to people in other industrialized countries.
The discussion began when round-table host Jonathan Karl asked Congressman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) about a CBO report showing “the equivalent of two million-plus workers coming out of the economy” due to Obamacare.
Cole said, “Obamacare has been an issue from day one that’s hurt Democrats and helped Republicans.” And he said it’s “not going to go away” as an issue “because it’s fundamentally a flawed, bad policy.”
Ellison countered that the CBO report on the reduction of hours worked means, “We are going to have parents being able to come home, working reasonable hours. People are going to be able to retire. People might actually be able to cook dinner rather than have to order out and get some takeout.”
He added: “If you look at international comparisons country by country, Americans work way more that the average of industrialized countries around the world.”
He said the report showing fewer work hours gives us the chance “to look at our work/life balance,” which he described as “a great opportunity.”
Congressman Cole responded: “Strange spin. I don’t think it’s going to work.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins
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