As the new House-Senate GOP majority map an agenda of action for the next two years, insiders say that they will seize on issues also backed by Democrats to challenge the president, starting with Obamacare.
The leading edge of that fight is likely to be the elusive Senate passage of a repeal of the so-called “medical device tax” of about 2.3 percent. It has Democratic support in the House and a wide range of backing in the Senate, from conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to progressive Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Sponsor Rep. Erik Paulsen, Minnesota Republican, said that 32 House Democrats have voted to support the repeal in past House tallies and a total of 79 senators agree, making the legislation veto proof. Democratic leaders have blocked full passage in the Senate, but the incoming Republican majority is expected to approve it early next year.
President Obama, he told Secrets, “is not going to want to be put in the position where you potentially have a veto-proof majorities supporting a repeal of the device tax,” he said in predicting that the White House would OK the repeal of the jobs-killing tax.
While it could eventually be a stand-alone challenge to Obamacare, it might also be lumped in with other changes including Medicare liability reform, changes or repeal to the individual mandate and a switch back to considering 40 hours as a typical work week.
But even more than challenging Obama, Paulsen said that it would be part of a larger Republican reform agenda, one focused on creating jobs and improving the economy and not just slapping the president. The medical device tax, for example, punishes small businesses like doctors and dentists that have to pay it, and device makers have eliminated jobs because business is slowing.
“Look, we only get one chance at a first impression and I think it’s important to show and prove to the public that we can govern and pass things, we can put things on the president’s desk and make progress,” said Paulsen.
He made his point in a recent column in the Wall Street Journal:
Here’s a great way to start: Repeal Obamacare’s medical-device tax. The Affordable Care Act hamstrings medical innovation by imposing a 2.3% excise tax on the sale of medical devices such as defibrillators and operating-room monitors. Businesses that often make life saving products now have to pay one of the highest effective tax rates of any industry in the world. The U.S. is the only country that imposes an excise tax on medical-device companies.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
