Politicians who’ve signed on to various bids to repeal the 2.3% sales tax on medical devices that’s taken center stage in the shutdown battle pulled in nearly $40 million from donors who oppose the levy, according to an analysis from MapLight.
U.S. Congress
Medical device tax: Dent, Kind look to end shutdown, repeal tax
Trends: Medical device tax hits center stage amid federal shutdown
The public is clamoring for information about the medical device tax in the wake of the federal shutdown after a plan to keep the government funded and running fell apart over arguments about the Affordable Care Act.
Federal shutdown would mean FDA delays | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A federal government shutdown could mean some serous setbacks for the FDA, which would have to resort to furloughs that could mean delays in reviews and inspections.
UPDATE: Senate kills medtech tax, Obamacare amendments, sends spending bill back to House
The U.S. Senate rejected a pair of House amendments to a spending bill that would avert a government shutdown, sending the bare-bones funding measure back to the lower chamber, where legislators are said to be mulling further changes to Obamacare.
U.S. government shutdown pivots on medical device tax
The medical device tax is a political football today, as the U.S. Congress wrangles over a spending bill House Republicans want to use to repeal the tax and delay Obamacare by a year.
Without funding, the federal government is slated to shut down at midnight tonight when the fiscal 2014 year begins. Both Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the White House have sworn to shoot down any spending bill that would affect Obamacare.
Markets waver as U.S. shutdown looms
Investors in markets from Brazil to Beijing blinked today as the U.S. government poised to put itself on shutdown, a move economists fear will send uncertainty surging across the globe.
Reid slips on ‘stupid’ medical device tax
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stumbled over his own words when rejecting efforts to repeal the medical device tax, calling the levy itself "stupid" and taking it back immediately.
His comments suggested a bubbling frustration as the government attempts to find ways to avoid impending shutdown, with latest efforts hinging on a 1-week continuing resolution that would give lawmakers a small stay of execution to work out a deal before they lose funding.
House votes to repeal medical device tax, delay Obamacare
The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to repeal the medical device tax and delay the implementation of Obamacare by a year. Both the White House and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) immediately promised to reject the vote, setting the stage for a government shutdown.
The House voted 248-174 to repeal the tax and 231-192 to delay Obamacare by a year. The measures are pegged to a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government funded until Dec. 15, forestalling the shutdown slated for the Oct. 1 start of the federal fiscal year.
Baucus on the medtech tax: ‘A deal’s a deal’
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) didn’t mince words when asked about some colleagues’ push this week to repeal the medical device tax enacted this year as part of Obamacare, telling the medtech industry that, "A deal’s a deal."
"That industry contributed to a solution; they agreed to the tax, essentially, as did other industries. It’s improper at this point to go back on the deal," Baucus told Politico yesterday. "Also, it’d leave a deficit hole. … Who’s going to pay for getting them off the hook?"
Debt fight may be an opportunity for device tax repeal | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — There’s not much talk of silver linings in the Congressional quagmire over the debt ceiling, but medical device industry lobbying group AdvaMed’s president & CEO Steve Ubl sees things a bit differently.
Support has been growing for repeal of the 2.3% excise tax, and the negotiations over the federal budget may be just the outlet that repeal advocates need to progress a bill.