Legislation sponsored by Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) would exempt emergency medical devices from the 2.3% sales tax on medtech products that went into effect last month.
The measure has attracted meager support compared with a bid to repeal the tax outright, sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.). Turner’s bill has 3 co-sponsors: Rep Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Walter Jones Jr. (R-N.C.). Paulsen’s repeal bill has 187 co-sponsors.
A companion bill in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) garnered support from some 28 senators, including 4 Democrats.
Paulsen’s bill is a shoo-in for approval in the Republican-led House, but the Senate bill faces an uphill battle, even with bipartisan support, in the Democratic upper chamber.
Turner’s emergency medical device exemption would apply to any "qualified emergency medical device," or "any medical device of a type furnished by first responders or ambulance services in providing out-of-hospital or pre-hospital care, or transport to a medical care facility, for individuals," according to the bill’s language.
Here’s a list of the Senate co-sponsors of the Senate bill to repeal the medical device tax:
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
- Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.)
- Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
- Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
- Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
- Sen. Robert Casey Jr. (D-Pa.)
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
- Sen. Daniel Coats (R-Ind.)
- Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
- Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
- Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)
- Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
- Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.)
- Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)
- Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.)
- Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.)
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
- Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ark.)
- Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
- Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho)
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
- Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
- Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)