Save American Workers Act passes house

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday on H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act, to raise the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) definition of full time from 30 hours of service per week to 40 hours of service per week.

The House passed the Save American Workers Act, 248 to 179, with only 18 Democrats joining a unanimous block of 230 Republicans in support of the legislation.

The bill is the latest attempt by House Republicans to change or repeal part of the ACA, commonly called Obamacare. The bill, called the Save American Workers Act, seeks to raise the ACA’s definition of full-time employment from 30 hours per week to 40 hours per week.

House Republicans said Obamacare's existing rules gave employers an incentive to slash workers' hours to less than 30 per week in order to avoid falling under the ACA's "employer mandate."

The ACA requires employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide health insurance to their workers or pay fines. The law's definition of full-time workers has been criticized especially by fast-food restaurants and other retailers, whose employees generally don't work a 40-hour week.

If passed, the Save American Workers Act would reduce the number of people receiving health care coverage from their employers by about one million.

It could also increase federal government spending on Medicare and other health programs by as much as $7 billion in the next five years, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

The vote to pass this bill is the latest of many House Republican-led initiatives to repeal, amend or otherwise change the Adffordable Care Act. The bill is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. If it does pass the Senate vote, President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the legislation.