UPDATE: Senate votes to end federal shutdown, pause medical device tax

The U.S. Senate reportedly voted today to end the shutdown of the federal government, reaching a compromise on immigration and setting the stage for another two-year pause on the medical device tax.

The 81-18 vote advanced a continuing resolution that would fund the government until Feb. 8, three days into the shutdown, according to National Public Radio.

Minority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell pledged to hold a vote before then on a measure to give legal status to some 700,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. The Trump administration halted the so-called “Dreamers” program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, last year.

If the final continuing resolution passes the Senate, it must still go through the House before the shutdown ends, NPR reported.

The 2.3% excise tax on U.S. medical device revenues was in effect for two years before a two-year moratorium began in 2016. It went back into effect at the beginning of this year, although the IRS said this week that it will not enforce any penalties for late payments of the medtech levy.

The House last week voted 230-197 to pass the stopgap bill, which also grants a six-year extension to Medicaid’s Children’s Health Insurance Program and pause other levies enacted as part of Obamacare, including the “Cadillac tax” for two years retroactive to Jan. 1 and the health insurance tax for one year starting in 2019.

But Senate Democrats successfully stalled a vote on the measure Friday because it does not address restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects hundreds of thousands of kids from being deported.

Legislators spent the weekend trying to negotiate a compromise, to no avail, leading majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell last night to schedule a vote for mid-day today. Minority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) held fast, saying more talk is needed, Politico reported.

The post UPDATE: Senate votes to end federal shutdown, pause medical device tax appeared first on MassDevice.

from MassDevice http://ift.tt/2Bl4Azo