Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler | Representing Southwest Washington's 3rd District

Vancouver, Jun 12 -

On Wednesday, June 13, Jaime Herrera Beutler will tour Vancouver-based medical device company REDpoint International, followed by a roundtable discussion with other Southwest Washington medical device innovators.

REDpoint is one out of 249 medical device companies in Washington state that will be hit by a 2.3 tax on sales of certain medical devices, ranging from stents and defibrillators to artificial hips and bed pans.

“We still have too many folks out of work in this region, so I look forward to this meeting with job creators to find out what they need to compete, grow and hire,” said Jaime.  “It’s exciting that some of the industry’s cutting edge innovations are emerging from right here in Southwest Washington.  The life science and medical innovation sector provide thousands of jobs in Washington state, and their products and services help save and improve lives.

“Just last week, I helped the U.S. House advance a bill that would eliminate a 2.3 percent medical device tax scheduled to hit the industry in 2013.  I want to hear what impact these taxes would have on Southwest Washington employers and jobs, and also how I can help clear other hurdles facing this industry.”

Background:

On Thursday, June 7, Jaime voted with a bipartisan majority of her colleagues in the U.S. House to approve the Healthcare Cost Reduction Act.  The final vote was 270-146.  Jaime cosponsored the legislation that would repeal the 2.3 percent tax that will be imposed on medical device manufacturers or importers as part of the 2010 federal health care reform bill. 

Event details: