Erik Paulsen: “I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to first speak, in general, in support of this tax package…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I want to first speak, in general, in support of this tax package overall, which includes some very, very good tax policy. But I want to highlight and specifically draw attention to one very important provision, a bipartisan provision, and that is a further delay of the medical device tax for a 5-year period. My preference, Mr. Speaker, would have been to have a permanent repeal of the device tax, but I understand you have to compromise on things, and that is a good compromise, so 5 years is what we get. And look, during a period of time when there are very few issues that a lot of policymakers, unfortunately, in Congress can agree upon, there is no doubt that there has been strong, bipartisan, broad-based support to repeal and eliminate a very bad policy that was put in place as a part of ObamaCare and repealing this device tax. This is about making sure that our Nation, our country, America, continues to lead the world in this important ecosystem that is central to improving patient care and also creating high-quality jobs. We all know the medical device industry in America is truly an American success story. It is a Minnesota success story. I can speak to the 400,000 people around the country who are directly employed. I can speak to the 35,000 folks who are employed in Minnesota in this industry. And these are hundreds and hundreds of companies, by the way, Mr.…”