Erik Paulsen: “I thank the gentleman. I have to share a story as well because this is about high-valued manufacturing without a doubt.…”

“I thank the gentleman. I have to share a story as well because this is about high-valued manufacturing without a doubt. There was a story, an editorial in the Detroit News just the other day. It essentially highlights a successful Michigan business, Fortune 500 company, Stryker. It's based in Kalamazoo. They were pretty clear, talking about how the new 2.3 percent medical device tax will cost the company $100 million this year alone. That's going to reduce its research and development budget by about 20 percent, which is the equivalent of the loss of 1,000 workers, Mr. Speaker. We can't afford to be talking about laying off thousands more people when the economy is struggling as it is. We should be flying at 30,000 feet after we came out of the recession, and we're bumping along at 10,000 feet. There's a lot of reasons for that, but the medical device tax is really crippling an industry that could help lead the way out of that recession as well. Mr. Speaker, I just want to mention one other thing that I think is important as well, that is, that as my colleague mentioned, we know 79 Senators support repealing this device tax. The challenge is with the Senate leadership. We need these rank-and-file Members to pressure the Senate leadership to also bring this up for a vote. We can do this in the House at any time.…”