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SAN DIEGO – Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) stood with innovative job-creators and leaders in San Diego’s economic community supporting a repeal of the harmful medical device tax. This comes on the heels of his vote yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the Medical Device Tax.

Rep. Peters called for immediate action by the U.S. Senate and approval by President Obama. Peters also toured Quidel, a company headquartered in Carmel Valley with 300 local employees ranging from highly-skilled production workers to scientists and engineers, including some recent graduates from local universities. Other attendees at the visit included Randall Steward, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Quidel; Rowena Coulin, Associate Scientist at Quidel; and Joe Panetta, President and CEO, BIOCOM.

“Yesterday in the House of Representatives we voted to repeal the Medical Device Tax; this tax is harming innovation at companies across the country, and stunting start-up potential,” Rep. Peters said. “Medical device companies support 11,000 workers in our region and we should be making it easier for job-creators to start their ventures here at home, with American workers. There is no better opportunity to ‘Make-it-in-America’ than to support the development and manufacturing of medical devices.”

Between San Diego, Imperial, Orange, and Riverside Counties there are nearly 250 medical device companies directly employing 11,100 workers, according to BIOCOM. The medical device industry supports nearly $10 billion in economic activity each year in the region and 48,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs.

“Rep. Scott Peters has been a tireless supporter of medical innovation. He understands the tremendous burden the device tax has placed on companies, especially smaller companies – hindering their ability to invest in the next great advancement. These investments are critical in the field of diagnostics, where companies like Quidel deliver tremendous innovations in tests that detect disease faster and more accurately, guide treatment decisions, and advance patient care while helping to more effectively allocate health care dollars,” said Andrew Fish, Executive Director at AdvaMedDx

Background on Rep. Peters’ Work to Repeal the Medical Device Tax:

Rep. Peters voted to repeal the tax yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives. It now must pass the Senate, where a repeal effort has bipartisan support including from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) before moving to the President for signature.

• 2/6/13 – Cosponsored legislation to repeal the tax in the 113th Congress
• 9/29/13 – Voted to repeal the tax
• 1/6/15 – Cosponsored H.R. 160 to repeal the tax in the 114th Congress
• 1/12/15 – Spoke out against the tax with a bipartisan group of colleagues
• 5/1/15 – Led a letter of 17 Democratic colleagues calling for action to repeal the tax
• 6/2/15 – Penned an opinion piece with Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09) and Suzan DelBene (WA-01) in the Huffington Post against the tax
• 6/18/15 – Voted again to repeal the tax

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