Weekly Newsletters
Jun 12 2012
The Hill Report: Week of June 4 - 8, 2012
The medical device industry provides our nation with innovative health care services, as well as much-needed jobs for hardworking Americans. This onerous medical device tax has already caused job loss in this industry, and its implementation in 2013 is anticipated to cause more workers to be laid off – including more than 16,000 people in the state of Texas.
Medical device companies will be forced tighten their budgets, reducing their investment in research and development, or pass the cost of the tax onto the consumers through higher insurance premiums and device prices. To make matters worse, American medical device companies have started planning to move to overseas markets that do not impose the regulatory and tax burdens they endure in the U.S.
The President and CEO of OsteoMed, a 20 year-old surgical device manufacturer based in Addison, wrote me a letter highlighting several serious concerns with this tax. He also warned that OsteoMed has “already started to effectively trade U.S. jobs for overseas positions as a direct result of the medical device tax and other governmental involvement.” OsteoMed is just one of several companies across the country that will shift jobs overseas if the medical device tax is not repealed.
The ability of our nation’s businesses to grow and compete in the global marketplace depends on their capacity to innovate. To get people back to work and to empower American ingenuity, I will continue to stand up for job creators by voting for common-sense policies that reduce their tax burden and bureaucratic red-tape. I urge President Obama and Senate Democrats to join our efforts to grow jobs in the U.S. and empower this vibrant industry.
Texas Association of Business
On Wednesday, I joined Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-5), Congressman Kevin Brady (TX-8), Congressman Joe Barton (TX-6) and members of the Texas Association of Business for a roundtable discussion. In our discussion, we talked about the current state of business in Texas, and how our business-friendly environment has allowed entrepreneurs to thrive, invest and grow jobs – despite a tough national environment.
Although the Texas economy has not been hit as hard as the rest of the country, the members of the Texas Association of Business still have serious concerns about our nation’s future. We discussed the Administrations tax, borrow, spend and regulate agenda which stifles job creation and creates an uncertain future for job creators across the country.
The Texas Association of Business represents the needs of employers, taxpayers and families across the state of Texas. To learn more about them, visit http://www.txbiz.org/.
Girls Scouts Celebrate 100th Anniversary
Today, I was delighted to meet with Girl Scouts from the Dallas area on the steps of our nation’s Capitol. The troops were visiting Washington for the first time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts of America. They came to “Rock the Mall” with 200,000 other scouts on Saturday morning where they will celebrate one hundred years of hard work with troops from across the country. I am always encouraged by young citizens from Texas aspiring to our nation’s future leaders, and wish them the very best this weekend.
As you may know, the Girl Scouts of America was founded on March 12, 1912 with the mission to build “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” A hundred years later, the group is still growing strong with over 3.2 million girls scouts. To learn more, visit http://www.girlscouts.org/.