Negotiations on FY 2024 Appropriation Levels Continue
This week’s Analysis and Commentary is entitled: FDA Funding At Risk In Current Budget Negotiations.
Negotiations on FY 2024 Appropriation Levels Continue. Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) this week said they are “stuck” on appropriation bills without an agreement on top-line spending levels. Reportedly staff for Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker Johnson are negotiating these levels but have yet to come to an agreement. This week’s Analysis and Commentary looks at the context of the current budget negotiations and the implications for FDA.
Senator Murray continues to argue that the levels set under the Fiscal Responsibility Act should be followed and anything less is "reneging on what was already agreed to." The handling of the side agreement including an extra $54 billion in nondefense spending is of obvious interest and concern to those supporting public health and food safety programs at HHS and USDA.
Senator Murray on Consequences of a Full-Year Continuing Resolution. In a speech before the full Senate, Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray said: “A date-change, full-year CR as proposed by House Speaker Johnson, would be unprecedented and reckless.”
She said that for domestic programs (excluding VA medical care), a date-change, full-year CR would mean as much as a 9.4% cut. She described the impact as “immediate hiring freezes and furloughs at just about every agency, millions of women and kids losing WIC benefits, wait times at ports of entry would quadruple…nearly one thousand fewer full-time food safety inspectors…less staff and equipment for our federal firefighters…five thousand scientists, students, and technical staff no longer receiving research support at our national labs and universities…nearly seven hundred thousand households losing federal housing assistance—and pushed toward homelessness.”
Senator Murray’s full statement can be found here.
Supplemental Appropriations Bill Yet To Advance. By a vote of 49-51 the Senate on Wednesday failed to invoke cloture on a supplemental appropriations bill providing funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and border funding. Sixty votes are needed to proceed to further consideration. Senate Republicans - and House leadership - want even more stringent border provisions included in the bill. Negotiations are expected to continue.
The Congressional Budget Process Timeline. Last July the Congressional Research Service developed a document detailing the framework for budgetary measures, including the budget resolution, appropriations bills, and any potential reconciliation legislation. We share it here for your convenience. This may be a helpful document for those looking ahead who would like to refresh their understanding of what the process is supposed to be. The document can be found here.
FDA, USDA, and EPA Propose National Strategy to Reduce U.S. Food Loss and Waste. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a national strategy that will drive progress toward the national goal of reducing food loss and waste in the U.S. by 50% by 2030. The Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics identifies opportunities to reduce food loss and waste across the entire supply chain and is released in conjunction with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September 2022.
According to the FDA’s announcement, FDA (1) will contribute date labeling and food safety advice to inform EPA’s national consumer education campaign; (2) will continue working with the food industry to advance the goals under the FDA New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative; and (3) will continue to encourage uniform adoption of food donation practices updated in the Food Code, which provide consistency and uniformity for public health officials.
FDA/NIH Collaborate to Implement ACT for ALS Law. A new law, signed in 2021, directed the NIH and FDA to partner to further ALS research. Among other goals, the law sought to address the funding gap that is a barrier to ALS patients receiving expanded access to experimental treatments outside clinical trials.
As part of the collaborative effort, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted $33 million to fund expanded access programs at academic institutions to provide experimental ALS therapies to hundreds of patients.
This grant funding marks an important milestone in improving treatment access for ALS patients and potentially serves as a framework to aid those with other rare diseases in the future. See Politico coverage here.
The Alliance Concluded its 2023 Webinar Series with CBER Director Peter Marks. Dr. Marks gave an overview of some of the current challenges in the development and approval of gene therapies and described CBER’s initiatives to lead the field toward greater success and increased patient benefit.
See the webinar transcript here, the summary here, and a link to his slide presentation here. These can also be found on the Alliance Events page.
This was Dr. Marks’ second time speaking at the Alliance Webinar Series in 2023; he discussed CBER’s FY24 Budget in April. You can find a summary and transcript of his April webinar, along with the rest of the Alliance Webinar Series, on our website here.