Stripped-down Farm Bill Passes House 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.

• Stripped-down Farm Bill Passes House; Impact on Appropriations Unknown. As discussed in a prior Analysis and Commentary on this web site, the June defeat in the House of the Farm Bill has potential implications for FDA appropriations. House leadership regrouped by splitting the Farm Bill into an agriculture subsidies bill and a nutrition bill. This week the agriculture subsidies bill passed the House on a near party-line vote. The intent is for the House to conference this bill with the Senate Farm Bill that contains both components. Given the specific perspective of FDA funding concerns, it is unclear at this moment whether this “split the bills” strategy will smooth the way for House consideration of the Ag/FDA appropriations bill or entangle it.

• House-Passed Farm Bill Contains Threat to Food Safety Modernization Act. The House-passed Farm Bill contains a provision that is aimed at slowing implementation of FSMA. The back-story and politics are discussed here.

• House and Senate Spending Bills Headed for Collision, Raising Risk of a Government Shutdown. As reported by the Wall Street Journal this morning, House and Senate lawmakers are $91 billion apart as they draft spending bills for FY 2014, putting Congress once again on a potential collision course that risks a partial government shutdown this fall. In the Democratic-controlled Senate, lawmakers are crafting bills that add up to $1.058 trillion for the roughly 40% of the budget that Congress allocates each year for military, education, transportation, and other discretionary programs. Bills being written in the Republican-led House add up to $967 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. To view the article please click here (but you do need a subscription to be able to read the article).