The National Republican Congressional Committee launched a petition campaign to rally support for repeal of the 2.3% medical device tax contained in President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The group sent the petition to a handful of Democratic senators, asking that they either sign their names in support of striking the levy or "pave the way for the job-killing medical device tax."
In a press release cloned for each senator, the NRCC warned that the targeted lawmakers have "consistently protected [their] party’s ability to spend wildly at the cost of the American people and economy."
The group then lobs the rhetorical question: "Will the loss of American jobs and higher costs thanks to Obamacare’s medical device tax be enough to get [the senator in question] to sign our petition?"
Support for striking the medical device tax is generous among Republicans and a repeal bill passed successfully through the House of Representatives earlier this year, but industry stakeholders have had a harder time cobbling together support in the Democrat-led Senate, where a repeal bill has yet to come to a vote.
There has been some interest growing among the Senate’s left-leaning members, manifesting most recently this month when a group of Democratic and Independent Senators signed their names to a letter calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to ask for a delay to the levy.
The NRCC characterized that letter as a move made in "panic."
"Obamacare’s medical device tax will soon take effect and Democrats are in disarray over its crushing effects that will suppress innovation, outsource jobs and enforce reckless spending practices," according to a press release. "Now, the National Republican Congressional Committee has announced the opportunity for congressional Democrats to sign the petition, www.nrcc.org/medical, to stop their limitless spending habits."
