WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) spoke on the House floor to highlight to negative effects of the Affordable Care Act on East Tennessee businesses. Roe made the following statement:  

Mr. Speaker, during a hearing of the Education and the Workforce Committee yesterday, Secretary Sebelius dismissed concerns regarding the impact that the Affordable Care Act will have on small businesses as “speculation.”

But in my district—and all across this country—the negative impact of this law is a sad reality. I’ve held field hearings in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and most recently North Carolina to hear directly from job creators about how they will have to cut hours or hire fewer employees because of the Affordable Care Act.

And just this Sunday, the Johnson City Press ran an advertisement from a Burger King franchisee announcing that he was being forced to close one of his stores as a result of, among other things, “a law so unfriendly to business and workers it forces the business to limit hard working Americans to less hours and lower pay at a time of high unemployment and less opportunity for people to prevail.”

This entrepreneur wants to grow his business—not shrink it. But instead, we are limiting his opportunities and those of the Tennesseans that he would employ. Speculation? I hardly think so.  

We can—and must—do better. 

Click the video to watch Roe’s remarks.