Lobbyists Switch From Offense to Defense

With her client facing a new medical device tax, lobbyist Jenn Higgins began working the halls of Congress. For almost two years, she and fellow advocates for the medical device industry used relationships they had built to line up lawmakers from states with companies that would be affected and politicians likely to be swayed by arguments that the tax would hurt innovation and consumers.

In the end, the lobbyists got the tax lowered to $20 billion from $40 billion. But Higgins lost what she most sought—a specific exemption for items such as wheelchairs—when Congress at the last minute instead excluded “retail” devices. Suddenly, Higgins and her client, wheelchair maker Invacare, were at the mercy of the Internal Revenue Service. Government tax lawyers would decide what Congress meant. “It requires a lot of education on our part, and that’s really what lobbying has become,” says Higgins, a principal at Capitol Health Group in Washington. “They’re not going to tell you which direction they’re going to go in, but at least you have a one-way dialogue.”