Rep. Dan Benishek, a Michigan Republican, tells
Newsmax TV President Barack Obama "has been ignoring Congress" since he took office and that Obamacare taxes placed on companies are killing American jobs.
In an interview with Ed Berliner on "The Hard Line," Benishek — a medical doctor — says medical device companies in his district are being taxed whenever they make a sale under a directive contained in the Affordable Care Act, which could lead to a loss of jobs and business in the United States.
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"That's particularly hard on start-ups. In my district, we've got Precision Edge, RTI Surgical, small surgical supplies, start-up companies that are just starting out, they don't have a profit, but they're being taxed anyway," Benishek says. "Really what it's leading to is these companies going overseas to do their business, leading to losses of jobs here in the United States and in my district of Michigan."
The House passed a measure Thursday that would
repeal the medical device tax, although the White House said earlier this week it would veto any repeal of the directive placed on the president's desk.
"Its repeal would take away a funding source for financial assistance that is working to improve coverage and affordability and would increase the Federal deficit by $24.4 billion over 10 years," a White House statement read,
according to The Hill.
Benishek tells Newsmax the "broken" U.S. tax code is shipping American jobs to foreign countries.
"Our broken tax code is driving companies overseas all the time," he says. "We have the highest tax rate in the world and this is just another ridiculous tax on an industry that supplies us with innovative devices that keep us in the forefront of medical technology across the world. We can't afford to be giving up this industry to places like Ireland and Europe that have more reasonable tax structure."
Benishek closes his segment by accusing the president of not listening to lawmakers since he took office in 2009.
"The president has been ignoring Congress for the last six years. He hasn't talked to me, he hasn't talked to the Democrats," he says.
The fate of a large portion of the Obamacare law dealing with subsidies rests in the hands of the
Supreme Court in a case that could wreak havoc across the entire healthcare system.
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