Alliance Meeting with our Appropriations Subcommittee Chairmen 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.

  • Upcoming Senate and House FY 2014 Agriculture Appropriations Hearings. The Senate Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee hearing on FDA will occur this coming Thursday, April 18, and the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee hearing on FDA is likely to occur later in the month.

  • Alliance Meeting with our Appropriations Subcommittee Chairmen. This past week the Alliance met with Senator Mark Pryor (D, AR) to discuss FDA funding in the FY 2014 appropriations cycle. Senator Pryor serves as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. Next week, the Alliance meets with our House Agriculture Appropriations Chairman, Rep. Bob Aderholt (R, AL).

  • President Submits FY 14 Budget Request Earlier this Week. On April 10, the President submitted his FY 14 budget request to Congress. The full details regarding FDA are available if you click here. The best summation of his proposal are on pages 79 to 83 of the PDF document, which are the “all-purpose” tables for budget authority, user fees, and total programs. The Alliance’s preliminary analysis of the budget request can be viewed if you click here. More about the budget is also included in this week’s Analysis and Commentary (and see below).

  • President’s Request Relies on Budget Deals to Sustain Discretionary Spending Against Cuts. The President’s Request for FDA for FY 14, preserves the agency’s pre-sequester, pre-rescission funding level by using FY 12 as the base-year and building on that. As a starting point, that is very favorable to the agency. However, the President’s total budget request for all discretionary spending is substantially more than will be allowed under the Budget Control Act of 2011. Thus, his request is dependent on a budget deal where discretionary spending cuts are replaced (in whole or part) with tax changes and entitlement reforms. If such a deal is not adopted, then the appropriations committees will need to cut billions of dollars from the President’s overall request -- either by direct cuts or across-the-board rescissions or sequester. This interplay between budget/spending ceilings and individual program funding is likely to be protracted, with agency funding levels not determined until this summer or later.

  • Alliance Quarterly Membership Meeting, Tuesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m. The Alliance’s next quarterly membership meeting will occur on Tuesday, April 30th at 2:00 p.m.

  • Freshman/Sophomore FDA Advocacy Week, April 30, May 1, May 2 -- Please Participate. The Alliance is planning a series of meetings with the staff of Freshman and Sophomore members of Congress on the following three days: April 30th, May 1st, and May 2nd. This is a week when Congress is out of session and the purpose of the meetings is to provide staffers with consumer and patient groups and regulated industry perspectives on the critical importance of FDA. Alliance members and other interested parties are encouraged to participate in the meetings. Please RSVP. If you plan on participating in the meetings and have not already sent an RSVP please do so by e-mailing Tony Curry. Additional details regarding the meetings will be provided in the near-term.

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Interpreting the President's FY 14 Budget for FDA

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Initial Alliance Comment on President's Request for FDA for FY 14