Saving the American worker

By Congressman Bruce Poliquin
(R-Maine)

Maine is home to the most hard-working, honest and dedicated workers in the country. From shipbuilding, to fishing, to teaching, to manufacturing and everything in-between, our Maine workers’ effort to create the best product possible is inspiring.

As we celebrate the Labor Day holiday, please remember to thank our Maine workers for all they do.

As Maine’s Second District Congressman, I have been working to help our Maine workers by reducing Washington’s burdensome regulations, repealing the parts of ObamaCare that are crippling our small businesses and supporting energy policies that will allow our businesses to grow and hire more workers.

Since my first day in office, I have been working to scale back the Dodd-Frank Act to help our community banks, federal credit unions and small businesses expand and hire more Maine workers.

At a recent Financial Services Committee hearing, I questioned Federal Chair Janet Yellen on Washington’s excessive and burdensome regulations that are crippling our Maine businesses. I said, “If you’re in my district and you’re talking to the owners of a paper mill or convenience store, they say the same thing. They are spending so much time and money to comply with government regulations that they can’t afford to grow their business and hire more workers.

“I am sure we can agree that businesses need to be fairly regulated, but when those regulations are killing jobs – that’s just not right.”

I will continue to support bills, such as the REINS Act, that help prevent new, excessive and costly regulations that are crippling our businesses and stunting job growth.

I have also been working to repeal the parts of ObamaCare that are hurting our Maine businesses the most.

One of the most crippling elements of the President’s health care law has been its redefining of a full-time employee’s workweek.  ObamaCare changed the long held standard of a workweek from 40 hours per week to just 30 hours.  This has in turn placed enormous pressure on Maine’s small businesses and brought uncertainty to the hard-working employees in the Second District.

This isn’t fair and it isn’t right.

That’s why I voted in support of a bill, the Save American Workers Act, in order to restore the definition of a full-time employee as someone who works 40 hours per week. The Save American Workers Act will allow our small businesses to expand, hire more employees and create a better business climate.

Additionally, too many of our paper mills have closed because the high cost of energy in Maine has made it hard to compete.  With these closures came thousands of lost jobs and several closed businesses.

That reality is simply unacceptable.

Since joining Congress in January, I have voted for fairer and more effective energy production and distribution policies.  I voted to build the Keystone XL pipeline which will safely bring fuel to areas of the country that need it most while maintaining conscious environmental standards.  I also cosponsored H.R. 161, the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act, which would help streamline the bureaucratic process involved in pipeline proposal implementation and construction.

With fall and winter quickly approaching, it’s imperative for Congress to act quickly in ensuring low prices for energy and heating for Maine businesses and families.