Fiscal Cliff Looms and more

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.

  • Fiscal Cliff Looms. As of publication, there is no resolution on the fiscal cliff and sequestration — just 12 days before a series of substantial tax increases and harsh federal programming cuts are due to go into effect. Negotiations between President Obama and House Speaker Boehner are likely to continue, despite what appears to be an impasse at this point.

  • HHS Plans for Sequestration. Yesterday, HHS Secretary Sebelius sent a note out to all HHS employees, including FDA employees, which indicated that if a deal is not reached and sequestration goes into effect on January 2, employees should not expect immediate changes. HHS will not begin employee furloughs or “other actions,” until it appears it will be operating under sequestration for an “extended period.”

  • More Fiscal Cliff Analysis. In today’s Analysis and Commentary, we look at the current status and the possibilities for the next 12 days ... with no certainty what the final deal will look like or whether one will occur.

  • Maryland Senator Mikulski to Chair Senate Full Appropriations Committee. Widespread media reports are that Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) will be appointed Chair of the Appropriations Committee. With FDA headquartered in the Senator’s home state, we look forward to working with her to make the case for FDA funding. At this point, there is still not an announcement for Senator Kohl’s replacement as Chair of the Appropriations Agriculture/FDA Chairmanship.

Note: Normally, this would be our last announcement of the year. However, with negotiations (or at least the prospect of negotiations) continuing for at least another 10 days, we expect to publish another announcement whenever we can say definitively what has been agreed to (or not) and the implications for FDA funding.

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And the sequestration clock is STILL ticking ...

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