Political Quotes

“I just want to address something that was stated by one of the previous speakers from Washington State who made a comment to the effect that the medical device industry supported that tax. Well, that is a statement that is simply not based in fact. In fact, what happened, as I recall, Senator Baucus helped impose the tax on the industry because he felt that they were not providing enough at the table in terms of concessions for the ACA. In fact, since they weren't doing enough at the table, the medical device industry was placed on the menu. They fought this tax vigorously. There is no letter to indicate they had any support for this tax. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation to repeal the medical device tax. However you feel about the 2010 health care law on the whole, we can all agree that the legislation has its flaws. Again, one of the most glaring deficiencies in the law is the medical device tax, designed to extract $26 billion from the industry over 10 years. This new law is already stifling critical innovation and threatening high quality jobs in my district. More importantly, it is increasing costs for consumers on products which are an absolute necessity of life for those who rely on them, such as prosthetics, pacemakers, and artificial hearts. Costs are also being passed on to consumers at all levels through increased insurance premiums and bills from medical providers.…”