Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) thanked the Medical Alley community for presenting him with the Spirit of the Alley Award, in honor of Phillips’s work to support small businesses in Minnesota and foster innovation in health care.

In 2019, Phillips helped achieve a permanent repeal of the medical device tax, which had previously stifled productivity, hampered job growth, and disproportionately harmed Minnesota, the birthplace and epicenter of the medical device industry. Furthermore, since the beginning of the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, Rep. Phillips has introduced two bills – the IGNITE American Innovation Act and New Business Preservation Act – that would protect American start-ups and encourage investment in a time of economic turmoil.

“It’s a great honor to represent Minnesota’s Third District and all of the ground-breaking – and often lifesaving – innovations that happen right here in the medical alley,” said Rep. Phillips. “I’m humbled and grateful for this recognition, and I’m proud to champion our state’s unparalleled community of health care entrepreneurs. In the months and years to come, I will continue to elevate ideas that decrease costs and improve health outcomes for Minnesotans, and I invite those of all political persuasions to join me in that endeavor.”

Minnesota’s Third District contains the largest concentration of medical device firms in the country, and 80% of those businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises. As a new subcommittee chairman on the House Small Business Committee, Phillips looks forward to continuing his work to support health care entrepreneurship and innovation in the 117^th Congress.