Language offered by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and slipped into Senate health care legislation H.R. 3590  at the last minute unfairly targets small construction firms with more than five workers by requiring them to provide health care coverage or face stiff fines. Meanwhile, small businesses in all other industries would be exempt from providing mandatory health coverage if they employ 50 workers or less.

Since passage of the Senate bill on Christmas Eve, NAHB has been alerting lawmakers that this jobs-killing provision is patently unfair and would place a huge competitive disadvantage on the housing industry, which under normal conditions accounts for more than 17% of the nation’s gross domestic product and is struggling to rebound from its lowest production levels since the 1940s.

To get the message out, NAHB issued a grassroots alert to its members during the recent International Builders’ Show and promoted a Grassroots Letter Writing Booth on the exhibit floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Thousands of letters were sent to members of Congress explaining how this provision threatens the viability of countless small home builders across the nation and asking that it be stripped from a final health care bill.

In a major development that has thrown the health care debate into disarray, Republican Scott Brown's upset victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Jan. 19 special election to fill the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Edward Kennedy gives the GOP 41 Senate seats and deprives the Democrats in the Senate of the 60 votes they would need to break a filibuster and move legislation forward. H.R. 3590 received the bare minimum of 60 votes to pass the chamber under Senate rules.

Complementing the grassroots push at the IBS, NAHB continues to work with lawmakers in both chambers to send a message to the Democratic leadership to delete the Merkley language from the final legislation.

In the House, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) took the lead in sending a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) urging them to eliminate the Merkley amendment from the final measure. In the letter, Gordon and 15 other House members characterized this as a “potentially devastating provision” that “unjustly targets an industry trying to keep its doors open during the worst downturn since the Great Depression.”

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) spearheaded a parallel effort in the Senate. In mid-January, Lincoln, along with Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), sent a similar letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) seeking to “strike this provision from the legislation during the upcoming House-Senate conference committee negotiating process.”

As Congress debates how to move forward on a final health care bill in the coming weeks, NAHB will continue to lead the fight with other like-minded business groups to push for the elimination of the Merkley provision and seek other changes to address the concerns of the housing community and small businesses.

Upcoming 2010 Legislative Conference Gains Importance

The brewing health care battle serves as a reminder that builders need to send a message to members of Congress that housing deserves 100% of their ongoing attention to lead the nation’s troubled economy back to higher ground.

The home building industry still faces significant challenges as the housing market begins to regain its footing. Specifically, these involve housing finance and appraisal issues that threaten to harm small businesses, slow home sales and hamper a housing recovery.

Builders should mark their calendar now for the most important grassroots event of the year — the 2010 NAHB Legislative Conference — which will take place on Wednesday, April 21 in Washington, D.C.

For more information and to register for the conference, click here; or e-mail Brooke Mueller at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8584.

To view the Senate health care legislation, click here and type H.R. 3590 in the box at the upper center of the page.

For more information, e-mail Carlos Gutierrez at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8242. [return to top]