GOP hits Obama on overtime regulations

Republicans attacked one of the Obama administration’s key labor policies Thursday.

In a hearing to examine the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rule, Republicans aired their frustrations with the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda.

“We’re drowning these businesses in regulation,” Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) said at the hearing. “Between the Affordable Care Act, between the limit to access to capital under Dodd-Frank, all these things are well intentioned, but they are significant constraints on small business.”

The overtime rule “is just more icing on the cake,” he added.

The Labor Department proposed expanding the number of people who qualify for overtime pay in June.

Currently, employees who make more than $23,660 a year may not qualify for time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The Labor Department is seeking to raise that level to $50,440, so millions of more workers will qualify.

The Labor Department is expected to finalize the rule by 2016.

Democrats say it will raise millions of hard-working Americans out of poverty. But Republican complain the overtime rules will hurt the bottom line of many businesses and force them to cut jobs.

Or as Rice puts it, the overtime rules will “smother” small businesses in regulation.

“This is administration is tone deaf when it comes to actually helping small businesses,” said Rep. Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.).

But Democrats contested the notion that regulations are hurting the economy. 

“I just don’t think we can say that what’s killing jobs is regulation,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.). “We had a huge thing called the Great Recession that had a huge impact on employment.”