Leaders in the U.S. Senate aim to repeal one of the least popular provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The 2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers and importers of medical devices.
The tax has been criticized by trade groups as costing jobs, and it appears to be falling well short of expectations in raising revenue.
Although a bipartisan coalition in the House of Representatives pushed through legislation in June to undo the tax, which is expected to bring in $30 billion over ten years, the bill will not become law until the Senate acts. But Democratic and Republican aides told the National Journal that the upper chamber will soon address the issue.
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A number of Democrats, including members of the party's progressive wing, such as Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobucher, plan to support the tax's repeal. However, one very important Democrat supports maintaining the tax: President Obama. Even if the bill attracts enough Democrats to avoid a filibuster in the Senate, it will need 67 votes in the Senate as well as two-thirds support in the House to override the likely presidential veto.
Democrats have political and policy justifications for defending the law, the National Journal explains. Some of them believe that the tax is a justifiable and necessary funding mechanism to expand health care, while even those who are skeptical of the tax may worry that repealing it will send a signal to other industries hoping to carve out more favorable terms in the PPACA.
Republicans trying to advance the legislation are also coming into roadblocks within their own caucus. Some conservative members are committed to repealing the PPACA entirely, rather than simply focusing on its least popular measures. Indeed, the support the measure has garnered from many Democrats can be seen as evidence that repealing the tax will hardly doom PPACA.
Finally, while Republicans may be able to muster enough bipartisan support to repeal the tax, it will be much harder for them to garner comparable support for any measure intended to make up for the billions in lost revenue. Democrats are unlikely to support a GOP-backed effort to cut social spending, while Republicans are highly unlikely to unveil a proposed hike in other taxes.
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