On the recordNovember 14, 2019
As my colleague said, if we defeat the previous question, Republicans will amend the rule to include the consideration of the repeal of the medical device tax. The medical device tax hurts jobs and innovation, preventing the development of cutting-edge, lifesaving technologies. That also increases the cost of patient care for all of our constituents, Republican and Democrat. There is not a corner on the market for patient success and lifelong cures more than the medical device tax elimination. Hoosiers in my State are proud to be leaders in medical innovation, with more than 300 medical device manufacturers in my State alone supporting nearly 55,000 good-paying jobs. However, after this tax took effect, the industry lost nearly 30,000 of those jobs nationwide from 2012 to 2015, according to the Commerce Department data. Congress has temporarily suspended this job-killing tax since 2016, and this expires in January. Here we are at a crux that we have never faced before. We are 3 months away. Congress needs to act today, now, not for me, for all of us on this floor. These folks who live and die by medical devices do not declare themselves as being Republicans, Democrats, or independents. They are Americans in need of our help, and they need it now. Medical devices have literally changed the way we think about healthcare. In all of our districts, patients undergo less invasive procedures, which leads to shorter hospital stays.…
