A pair of U.S. House members, Reps. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.), are leading the charge on a compromise bill to fund the government for the next 6 months at sequester levels – and repeal the medical device tax in the process.
Dent and Kind have circulated a letter, signed by 20 members of Congress from both sides of the political aisle, urging House leaders in the to fund the federal government and eliminate the 2.3% medical device sales tax.
"The far left isn’t going to like it, because it changes the healthcare law, and the far right isn’t going to like it, because it doesn’t defund the healthcare law, but we think it’s a reasonable way forward to help break the logjam," Dent told The Morning Call today. "We don’t think the leadership in either party will like it, but there is plenty of support to put pressure on the leadership."
Dent’s compromise would include a "pay for" to recoup the nearly $30 billion the medical device tax is expected to generate over a decade, by making changes to pension fund rules, according to Politico.