"This bill will not deliver the lower-cost and better-quality health care and insurance coverage that retailers have called for," NRF vice president and employee benefits policy counsel Neil Trautwein said. "In fact, it will increase costs and threaten retail jobs. The Senate should go back to the drawing board."
Lawmakers on Saturday [image-nocss] avoided a Republican filibuster, gaining the 60 votes necessary to bring the bill before the complete Senate.
"We recognize that the Senate bill does contain some positive reform elements, and had it expanded on those and avoided the employer-mandate and public-plan provisions that dominate the bill, NRF could have supported it," Trautwein said. "NRF will continue to work to improve the bill during the Senate debate. But should the bill remain in its current form or add additional troublesome provisions, we would have no choice but to oppose it."
Debate of Reid's $848-billion Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is expected to begin in earnest after Thanksgiving. The discussion is expected to be a volatile, high-stakes health-care debate, punctuated by tense and unpredictable battles, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Many lawmakers already consider it a golden opportunity to win long-sought projects and local aid for their constituents.
The flashpoints will be familiarabortion, federal deficits, government involvement in healthcare decisions and other hot topicsand many Democrats already have said they want to see, and are well-positioned to seek, changes in the bill.
"I, along with others, expect to have legitimate opportunities to influence the healthcare reform legislation that is voted on by the Senate later this year or early next year," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who was Saturday's 60th vote to break a Republican filibuster and start debating the bill, according to the report.
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores, as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employeesabout one in five American workersand 2008 sales of $4.6 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations.
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