Subcommittee Approves $285m Budget Cut for FY 12

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the FY 12 appropriations bill this afternoon (May 24, 2011). The chairman’s mark was released yesterday and proposed cutting the FDA’s budget authority (BA) appropriations by $285 million for FY 2012, which starts in October of 2011. This represents an 11.5% cut from the recently passed FY 11 Continuing Resolution, which funds the government up until October of 2011. This cut puts FDA’s numbers below its FY10 number and more than $500 million below what the President requested for the agency in FY 12. Here is a quick chart:Some points to note about the House subcommittee proposal:

• FDA is cut $285 million or about 11.5% below the FY 11 Final Continuing Resolution passed last month. The subcommittee notes that the overall cut in the bill is 13.4%. That is, FDA did slightly better, on average, than other agencies within the agriculture appropriations jurisdiction.

• Every area of FDA activity would sustain cutbacks under the House subcommittee bill.

• The decrease in appropriations of $285 million in budget authority (BA) appropriations is accompanied by a $288 million increase in user fees. Given the limited scope and activities upon which user fees are directed to be spent, such as nearly $500 million in total for the tobacco center, the Alliance does not consider an increase in user fees as justification or an offset for decreases in BA appropriations.

The Alliance will be working hard to restore funding to FDA when the full House Appropriations Committee marks up the subcommittee bill on May 31, 2011 or June 1, 2011.