FY 24 Funding Is Not Settled; Yet FY 25 Is Coming Soon
Q: Today’s Alliance Advocacy at a Glance says: if indeed there is an increase in monies available for Ag/FDA programs, that does not assure that FDA will receive that bump. Can you explain?
A: It is the Alliance’s position, consistent with the President’s request, that the agency needs about a 10% increase in FY 24 to cover expanding responsibilities and continue and improve existing initiatives. The overhaul of the FDA’s food programs would be one example of need. Another would be the growing complexity of science in medical products such as AI, medical software, and cell and gene therapy.
At this stage of the FY 24 process–already four months into the fiscal year and with new spending ceilings–10% is not realistic. However, a bump in funding above FY 23 funding levels is badly needed and still a possibility.
It is a very good sign if the FY 23 allocation for the Ag/FDA subcommittee is increased above the FY 23 levels. However, there will be demands for higher funding throughout the programs included in the Ag/FDA funding bill. There may be some hard choices ahead for subcommittee members in both the House and Senate.
The largest unknown is funding of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food, nutrition education, and health care and social services referrals to eligible low-income women, infants, and children.
WIC is the largest discretionary program in this bill. At about $6 billion per year in funding, it is close to 25% of total discretionary spending in the Ag/FDA appropriations bills and not quite twice the level of taxpayer funded (BA) support for FDA. Suffice to say that WIC participation is growing and additional funding may need to be found within the 302(b) allocation for the Ag/FDA appropriations bill.
By word and action, appropriators have shown that they support FDA and its funding needs. When the hard decisions about priorities need to be made, we are hopeful that FDA will get its needed bump in FY 24 funding. There is just no guarantee.
Q: When will the Alliance have an FY 25 budget ready available for use by advocates?
A: The FY 25 budget request may be unveiled in mid-March, about six weeks from now. We are being asked by a number of Alliance members: what is the Alliance’s FY 25 “ask” so it can be included in their organization’s Hill Days.
Unlike NIH, there is no “right” advocacy number that can be determined prior to, or independent of, the President’s budget request.
In some years, the Administration has requested substantial funds for FDA and we have followed their lead (although we usually have to propose more money for food than they have requested). In other years, the Administration request has been extremely disappointing and we have focused on convincing the Hill that FDA should be an exception to budget cuts. Every year, the Administration request helps us determine an Alliance “ask” that is aspirational without being so unrealistic that we are not taken seriously.
Those years when the budget comes out in early February, we are usually able to get the “ask” assembled and cleared by the board before our members have their own Hill Days. The later the budget release; the greater the number of organization Hill days likely to occur before we are ready.
When the budget is delayed, we have put together a few sentences or a paragraph that advocates can use in their own Hill days. Admittedly, it is a short-term placeholder approach, but one that seems unavoidable until the FY 25 budget request is released. In next week’s Analysis and Commentary, I will be discussing the language and how to use it in advocacy during the very early stages of the coming FY 25 appropriations cycle.
Editorial Note:
The Analysis and Commentary section is written by Steven Grossman, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.