Republican says Bernie Sanders' four-day workweek will threaten 'millions' of small businesses, forcing them to pay staff 25% extra an hour and could ship jobs overseas

A top Republican is sounding off on a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders that would mandate a four-day workweek, saying the measure could threaten millions of small businesses nationwide. 

The Vermont progressive - and self-declared 'Democratic Socialist' - toted his 'Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act' Thursday during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing.

His plan would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours without a loss of pay for employees. The bill would also lower the maximum amount of hours required for overtime payment for nonexempt employees.  

Sanders has said the bill 'is not a radical idea,' but the top Republican on the HELP committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is warning workers will be the real losers if it is enacted. 

'The government mandating a 32-hour workweek requiring businesses to increase pay at least an extra 25 percent per hour would, frankly, destroy some employers,' Cassidy said at the Thursday hearing.

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders introduced the 'Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act' Thursday which would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours without a loss of pay

The top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said the measure could threaten millions of small businesses, forcing them to pay more for less

'If this policy is implemented it would threaten millions of small businesses operating on a razor thin margin because they are unable to find enough workers.'

'It's free money, if you will. No loss in pay, but you work a lot less.'

Cassidy said the proposal 'would be napalm upon the fire of inflation.' 

The bill also has provisions that would require overtime pay, time and a half, to be paid out for employees that work more than eight hours in a day. 

It also mandates that workers get awarded double their normal pay if they work over 12 hours in a day. 

Still, Sanders argues that workers today are more efficient than they were in 1940, when the 40 hour standard workweek was set. 

'Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s,' Sanders said in a press release announcing the bill. 

'And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago.'

'It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life.'

Republicans claim the bill would force employers to go on a hiring spree to keep their businesses appropriately staffed

But members of the GOP say Americans' quality of life would go down with Sanders' measure.

'Workers would be the ones who would pay, not get paid extra,' Cassidy said.

'They would ship those jobs overseas or they would automate to replace those workers for whom they have an increased expense.'

'Or they would dramatically increase prices to stay afloat.'

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., also pushed back against Sanders' proposal at the Thursday hearing.

'I do disagree with trying to do anything from [the Senate] that would impose upon the preponderance of businesses out there.' 

'I just don't think they will survive,' he said.