FDA Science Board Presentation 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.
Hill Meetings. This week the Alliance held meetings with the staff of House and Senate Agriculture Appropriators regarding FDA funding in the sequester and the FY 2013 and FY 2014 appropriations cycles. We will continue our meeting with Agriculture Appropriators next week.
FDA Science Board Presentation, February 27th. On February 27th Alliance for a Stronger FDA President Diane Dorman will make a presentation at the FDA Science Board meetings. Her presentation will focus on the 2007 Science Report “Mission at Risk,” progress made in the intervening 5 years, and the Alliance’s position on the continuing resource needs of the agency.
Limited Congressional Action Possible Next Week on Sequestration. Congress returns from recess next week. The Senate is expected to vote on whether to defer sequestration for anywhere from 1 to 10 months. However, such legislation is not expected to pass the Senate. If it did, it would be unlikely to pass the House. However, ...
Increasing Talk in Both Houses. There is increasing talk in both Houses about passing legislation that would give agencies more flexibility in allocating cuts, rather than being imposed equally on each part of the agency. The NDD Coalition (advocates for preserving funding for non-defense discretionary programs) is opposing the flexibility provision on the basis that it will not actually ease any sequestration pain, but will reduce pressure on Congress to pass legislation that would replace sequestration with other types of deficit reduction. Thus, ...
Sequestration Is Expected to Go into Effect on March 1st. Most observers expect that sequestration will last until the end of March, when the FY 13 Continuing Resolution expires. With the pressure of shutting the government if it fails to act to extend the CR, many believe Congress will merge the resolution of the remaining 6 months of the sequestration with the CR. Even one month of sequestration will be destructive for FDA and there is no guarantee that an end-of-March deal will occur or that it will provide any relief.
The Political and Technical Aspects of Sequestration are Multi-faceted and Complex. This week’s Analysis and Commentary is devoted to a Q&A that attempts to answer questions raised by some of the Alliances members.