U.S. Senator Dan Coats says protecting Hoosiers from the burdens of the Affordable Care Act is his top legislative priority for 2014.
As a Republican in the U.S. Senate, Dan Coats is in the minority, and he knows that to get anything done, he'll have to work with Democrats. He says he realizes that a complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act is unlikely, so he's working to change particularly problematic parts of the law.
Coats says those avenues include a delay of the individual mandate and a repeal of the medical device tax.
"It has bipartisan support. Twenty-four Democrats have joined 45 Republicans to press on the president that this egregious tax on gross sales on medical devices needs to be repealed," Coats says.
Coats says other legislation he is coauthoring this year simplifies the tax code and has a real chance at passage.
"That tax code is full of loopholes which benefit a few but not the many," he says. "We can lower rates; we can make our corporations more effective in terms of tax rate as well as individuals."
The coauthor of that bill is a Democrat who's become head of the Senate Finance Committee.
Coats' other priorities include supporting faith-based community organizations and promoting Indiana's defense industry.