The medical device industry's influence on Congress

An NYT editorial describes it:

Ever since Congress included a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices in President Obama’s health care reform law in 2009, there has been a forceful and well-financed campaign to repeal the tax — waged, naturally, by the medical device industry. It has donated generously to lawmakers and candidates, taken them on tours of their plants and spent tens of millions in lobbying.

The effort is paying off. Last month, the Senate voted 79 to 20 to repeal the tax, even though the money is crucial to providing health coverage to the uninsured.

The vote was not binding, part of a parade of “message” amendments to the 2014 budget resolution designed to show a sense of the Senate. But the overwhelming majority in favor of the industry — which included 34 Democrats — means that a serious attempt at repeal is probably inevitable and shows how easy it is for a concerted lobbying effort to bring even liberal senators like Elizabeth Warren and Al Franken to an industry’s side.

. . . In the weeks before the vote, device interests helped sponsor two fund-raisers for Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, who wrote the amendment to repeal the tax. The industry gave nearly $1.4 million to 75 Senators in 2012, and $2.8 million to 308 House members.

The device makers have also spent more than $150 million on Washington lobbying since 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. They have held rallies in several states and organized “fly-ins” of employees to Washington. Last December, 18 Democratic senators, including Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin of Illinois, wrote a letter urging a delay of the tax.