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Rubio Urges Sebelius To Visit SeaWorld’s ObamaCare Victims
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today urged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to visit with Orlando area workers who are seeing their part-time hours capped due to ObamaCare’s looming implementation on October 1.
In a letter to Sebelius, Rubio urged Sebelius to use her trip to Orlando this Friday to meet with impacted workers at local businesses like SeaWorld, which yesterday announced it would reduce the hours part-time workers can work in order to avoid ObamaCare’s penalties.
“[P]otentially thousands of Florida families will be taking home less income due to their hours being capped at 28 per-week rather than the 32 hours-per-week allowed before ObamaCare,” wrote Rubio. “Especially for families living paycheck-to-paycheck, cutting their hours and income is exactly how ObamaCare devastates middle class Americans.
“It is my sincere hope that meeting with these men and women will help give you a better picture of what is truly happening in communities across America, as well as why my colleagues and I remain committed to defunding ObamaCare before it inflicts additional damage on hard-working Americans,” he added.
A broadcast quality video statement is available in both English and Spanish. For radio stations interested in airing this statement, an mp3 is also available in both English and Spanish. A copy of the letter is available here, and the full text follows:
September 10, 2013
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear Secretary Sebelius:
It has come to my attention that you will be in Orlando this Friday, September 13, to promote ObamaCare at the CVS Pharmacy Conference. I want to make sure you are aware that just across town from where you will be speaking is SeaWorld, a theme park whose parent company – SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. – became the latest employer this week to announce that it will cut the hours of its part-time employees to avoid the potentially devastating costs of ObamaCare.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. owns 11 theme parks across the United States, which employ nearly 22,000 workers. Of these, 18,000 are part-time or seasonal employees, including 4,000 in Central Florida alone. This means potentially thousands of Florida families will be taking home less income due to their hours being capped at 28 per-week rather than the 32 hours-per-week allowed before ObamaCare. Especially for families living paycheck-to-paycheck, cutting their hours and income is exactly how ObamaCare devastates middle class Americans.
While on your trip to Orlando, I strongly urge you to meet with some of these employees whose livelihoods are being threatened by the disastrous law that your department insists upon implementing. I trust that you will be moved by the experiences these individuals will share with you, just as I have been moved by my many meetings with Floridians who have been similarly impacted by ObamaCare.
It is my sincere hope that meeting with these men and women will help give you a better picture of what is truly happening in communities across America, as well as why my colleagues and I remain committed to defunding ObamaCare before it inflicts additional damage on hard-working Americans.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
U.S. Senator