Durbin: Medical device tax repeal could be ‘on the table’

Durbin: Medical device tax repeal could be ‘on the table’

Washington (CNN) - A repeal of the medical device tax may be a point of compromise between the House and Senate as the two houses of Congress work to end the government shutdown, the number two Democrat in the Senate said Tuesday.

“We can work on something, I believe, on the medical device tax. That was one of the proposals from Republicans, as long as we replace the revenue,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said on CNN’s “New Day.”

The medical device tax is a 2.3% excise tax created to in part fund Obamacare and went into effect at the beginning of 2013.

The tax is largely considered unpopular, including among some Democrats whose states harbor medical device employers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, for example, penned an op-ed for a trade magazine advocating for a repeal last year while she was running for the Senate.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/01/durbin-medical-device-tax-repeal-could-be-on-the-table/