The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, also known as One Big Beautiful Bill, which will restore personal income tax cuts that expired in 2022. However, the bill also restores research and development tax credits, a provision that drew immediate praise from industry.

H.R. 1 proved controversial for reducing federal taxpayer expenditures for the Medicaid program and required late-inning work from both the House and Senate to ensure passage before the July 4 deadline. The bill restores R&D expensing provisions passed by Congress in 2017, but which expired in 2022 to the dismay of industry. Congress was forced to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion in order to pass H.R. 1, but the bill was able to offset some of the concerns about Medicaid spending by providing $50 billion for rural hospitals. The bill makes permanent many of the tax cuts passed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and raises the amount of state and local income tax that can be offset from federal income taxes.

Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (Advamed), said the bill “will without question create a pro-growth environment that allows America’s medtech industry to maintain its global leadership position going forward.”

Whitaker said the R&D expensing provisions of H.R. 1 “will spur even greater med-tech R&D from our fast-moving innovators.” The expansion of expensing for qualified small business stock “will support early-stage companies trying to raise capital and hire talent, which is critical to getting groundbreaking medtech developments into the hands of doctors and their patients,” Whitaker stated, adding that the fixed corporate income tax rate “provides much-needed certainty for our companies as they plan for the future.”

Roughly 70% of the medical technology used in the U.S. is made in the U.S., Whitaker said, adding that jobs in med tech have grown triple the economy-wide average since 2017. “Supporting policies that lower the cost of doing business and opposing policies that raise the cost are essential to ensuring U.S. med tech’s expanding global leadership role,” Whitaker said, adding, “we look forward to continuing our work with the President and his administration and leaders on both sides of the Capitol who understand this vital policy dynamic.