Time for a Review of the FY 14 Budget Status

Congress is back from July 4 recess and has about a month to make its mark before the long August recess. The House will spend some of the intervening time on immigration reform, while a key Senate issue is the future of the filibuster and the exercise of the Senate’s power to confirm Presidential nominees. It is still uncertain whether appropriations bills will receive floor consideration before August. There are no guarantees at this point, but it certainly remains a possibility.

That makes this a good time to review where FDA is. Both the House and Senate appropriations committees marked up Agriculture/FDA bills in June. Below is a chart that compares the House and Senate committee marks for FDA for FY 14 against the FY 12, FY 13, the President’s FY 14 request, and the FY 13 enacted (pre-sequester) level that the House and Senate are using as the base year.

While the House mark represents a $24 million increase over the FY 13 enacted level and a $96 million increase over the FY 13 post-sequester level, it is still $22 million below the FY 12 funding level. In contrast, the Senate is $102 million above the FY 13 enacted level, $174 million over the FY 13 post-sequester level and $56 million above the FY 12 base.

The Alliance will continue to work for the largest possible appropriation for the agency, reminding everyone we can that the FDA’s responsibilities keep growing every year. We appreciate the recognition that both the House and Senate have given to this reality.

Note: This analysis and commentary is written by Steven Grossman, the Deputy Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.