Agriculture Appropriations Bill Passes, Dingell FDA Floor Amendments Fall Short, and other stories

Advocacy at a Glance offers you the bullet point summary of current advocacy issues associated with the goals of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.

• House Passes Agriculture Appropriations Bill. FDA is still scheduled for a $285 million cut from FY 2011 funding levels.

• Dingell FDA Floor Amendments Fall Short. Representative Dingell’s (D-MI) amendment to restore more than $60 million in funding failed; and the “hard science” amendment was stricken from the package on the grounds that it was legislation in an appropriations bill.  To view the Appropriations Committee press release that contains a full list of amendments please click here.

• Senate Appropriations Schedule Unknown. Could be any time, but our best thinking is that it will wait until there is a debt limit deal.

• Senate-Side Meetings. The Alliance will be holding meetings on the Senate-side next week.

• Debt Ceiling Update. There are media reports of progress on the debt ceiling deal but it is difficult to determine exactly how and when a deal may be struck.