Alliance Quarterly Meeting on November 5 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.
Alliance Quarterly Meeting on November 5 at 2 p.m. Come join us for the Alliance’s quarterly meeting on Tuesday, November 5. This meeting also serves as our annual meeting. Our guest speakers will be from Akin Gump’s political team and they will be discussing the 2014 elections and how it is likely to affect Congressional actions on budgets, spending, and legislation over the next 12 months.
House–Senate Budget Conference Committee Assignments Made, Set to Begin Work Next Week. The 29 members of the House-Senate Budget Conference Committee are scheduled to hold their first meeting next Wednesday. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D, WA) and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R, WI) are serving as co-chairs of the panel.
How does the Continuing Resolution (CR) Impact FDA User Fee’s? With regard to user fees, FDA has updated its statement to clarify that tobacco is the only user fee that is limited to the FY 13 post-sequester spending level. Specifically, they have told us:
FDA can assess and collect all user fees at the FY 2014 authorized rates during the period of the CR. Consistent with FDA’s FY 2013 annual appropriation, the CR for FY 2014 allows FDA to spend the full amount of actual fee collections (except for amounts sequestered under the sequestration law) -- even if those actual collections exceed the spending limits in the FY 2013 appropriations bill. However, FDA’s spending of tobacco fees for FY 2014 are restricted to the amount identified in the FY 2013 annual appropriation.
FDA, the Budget Talks and Sequestration. In lieu of our normal Friday Analysis and Commentary, the Alliance is working to provide a thoughtful and accurate explanation as to how various political and budgetary variables could affect FDA’s funding level for FY 14. We hope to provide this no later than next Friday’s report.