Obama threatens veto of legislation to increase full-time worker definition in health care law

The White House says President Barack Obama will veto legislation that would increase his health care law's definition of a full-time worker from 30 to 40 hours per week.

Republicans say the health law's 30-hour requirement is encouraging companies to cut workers' hours. The White House said in statement Wednesday there is no evidence the law has caused a broad shift to part-time work.

The House plans to debate the measure this week as one of its first orders of business in the new Congress.

The White House argues the bill would reduce the number of Americans with employer-based health insurance coverage and create incentives for employers to shift employees to part-time work. The White House says the bill would also increase the deficit by $45.7 billion over 10 years.