INDIANA, (WOWO): As the House of Representatives voted to amend a temporary spending bill that would avert a government shutdown to include a delay of ObamaCare by one year, 3rd District Representative Marlin Stutzman voted in favor…

“When government mandates that every American buy insurance established by bureaucrats and threatens to severely tax them if they don’t, that is unconstitutional mandate.”

2nd District Representative Jackie Walorski voted in favor of the bill, which would also abolish the medical device tax…

“An employee from Medtronic that lives in our district wrote to me stating the impact of the tax will result in possible downsizing and cutbacks for his company.  He went on to say the orthopedic industry offers some of the highest quality jobs in the area, and I would hate to see these jobs move to another state or overseas.”

In the meantime, Governor Mike Pence released the following open letter today to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to repeal the medical device tax. In the letter, the Governor noted the importance of the medical device industry in Indiana. 

“The medical device tax is especially problematic for Indiana because the industry has been a fertile source of job creation in our state,” wrote Pence. “Between 2002 and 2009, the Hoosier state added more than 8,800 life sciences jobs, 5,600 of which were in the medical device sector. Overall, Indiana medical device companies employ 20,000 Hoosiers directly and tens of thousands more indirectly.”

This legislation is now with the Senate. Congress must pass a spending bill before midnight to avoid a government shutdown.