Medical device industry lobbying spiked in the last quarter of 2019 as AdvaMed, the industry's largest trade group, nearly tripled its spending, according to Politico's Prescription Pulse newsletter.
AdvaMed represents 97 percent of the country's devicemakers.
The group spent $1.75 million on lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2019, nearly tripling the amount it spent in the third quarter.
The lobbying push was in large part due to the medical device tax, which the industry has been trying to get Congress to repeal for years. The industry worried that impeachment would get in the way of Congress repealing the tax.
The tax was created as part of the Affordable Care Act and put a 2.3 percent levy on most of the medical devices sold in the U.S. It was set to go back into effect Jan. 1, after being suspended since 2015.
The tax was repealed Dec. 19 as part of a $1.4 trillion year-end spending deal.