The National Restaurant Association issued a statement outlining concerns with the House’s vote to pass the latest version of health care reform legislation.

“On behalf of the association representing the nation’s second-largest private sector employer, we are very concerned about the impact many of the provisions in this health care bill would have on the restaurant industry,” says Dawn Sweeney, National Restaurant Association president and CEO. “The changes included in the modified version of the bill would severely and negatively impact restaurants by weakening the small business exemption, increasing penalties on employers, and imposing onerous administrative burdens on the industry.”

The National Restaurant Association has worked actively during the past year to advocate for provisions in the bill that would protect the industry and was successful in achieving several improvements. When changes to the final version of the bill were announced last week, the National Restaurant Association Board’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to publicly oppose the legislation.

“We are committed to reducing costs in the health care system and expanding health care coverage for the industry’s workforce” Sweeney says. “However, we are extremely concerned that the health care bill that passed today will impose tremendous burdens on America’s restaurants and hurt our industry’s ability to create and sustain jobs.

“We will continue to look for every opportunity and explore every avenue to create jobs, strengthen the economy and protect the restaurant industry as this legislation moves forward to the Senate, as well as in the regulatory process,” Sweeney says. “We will ask the Senate to address the protections for small businesses when they take up the reconciliation provisions. In particular, we call on them to address the provisions regarding part-time workers, which will directly impact the creation of jobs during this critical time for our country.”