Retail Federation Objects to Health Reform Bill

Washington, DC, Dec. 23, 2009 – The National Retail Federation said the healthcare bill will hurt retailers.

“Sixty members of the U.S. Senate have placed lumps of coal in retailers’ stockings for Christmas,” NRF vice president and employee benefits policy counsel Neil Trautwein said.

"To say we are disappointed would be a great understatement. This bill takes the wrong direction on health reform and is now larded with the worst health care pork imaginable.”

NRF last week urged senators to reject the Reid bill, saying its conditional employer mandate and other provisions make it “the biggest anti-stimulus legislation imaginable” and that it would lead to further job losses in the retail industry and other segments of the economy.