Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren is living up to her promise to defend medical device makers, signing a letter sent this week to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to ask for a delay to the medical device tax.
Warren joined 17 other Democratic senators and senators-elect to call for a stay of executive on the 2.3% sales tax taking effect on January 1.
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) co-sponsored the letter, asking that Senator Reid help them in efforts to "ensure that our country maintains its global leadership position in the medical technology industry and keeps good jobs here at home."
During her campaign, Warren had promised to fight for repeal of the medical device tax, an effort that medtech industry lobbying groups continue to push forward as the levy looms in the very near future.
Warren vowed her support for medtech tax repeal efforts in an April op-ed for MassDevice, writing that "when Congress taxes the sale of a specific product through an excise tax, as the Affordable Care Act does with medical devices, it too often disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovative potential."
When she won the coveted Massachusetts Senate seat from challenger Scott Brown (R), some wondered whether she would live up to her promise, which generated quite a bit of headlines in news outlets around the nation.
In adding her name to the letter to Sen. Reid, Warren joined a growing group of Democratic voices calling for a change or removal of the medical device tax, which is expected to generate more than $30 billion in revenues over about 10 years.
The full list of signatures includes:
- Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
- Franken (D-Minn.)
- Hagan (D-N.C.)
- Kohl (D-Wisc.)
- Mikulski (D-Md.)
- Kerry (D-Mass.)
- Casey (D-Pa.)
- Nelson (D-Neb.)
- Stabenow (D-Mich.)
- Shaheen (D-N.H.)
- Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
- Lieberman (I-Conn.)
- Schumer (D-NY),
- Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
- Durbin (D-Ill.)
- Murray (D-Wa.)
- Warren (elect-D-Mass.)
- Donnelly (elect-D-Ind.)
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