Anyone looking for a glimmer of bipartisanship in Washington might want to pay attention to the medical device tax that is part of Obamacare. It took a notable, if largely symbolic, hit this week from the left and the right.
The 2.3-percent excise tax on devices ranging from MRI machines to pacemakers to stethoscopes was meant to raise $20 billion over 10 years to help pay for extending health care coverage to the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act.
But so far it has raised more ire than revenue.
In a Senate where the line of demarcation on tax issues between the parties has rarely been starker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, teamed up to introduce a repeal amendment to the Senate budget resolution. That resolution passed Thursday in the Democratic-controlled chamber in a 79 to 20 vote. Every Republican and most Democrats voted for it.
Klobuchar's news release on the lopsided vote actually contained a quote from Hatch as well as her Minnesota colleague and fellow Democrat, Sen. Al Franken. Those are names you don't usually see in the same news release.
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