Califf Speech to Alliance a Huge Success

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.

• Califf Speech to Alliance a Huge Success. About 80 Alliance members and guests had the opportunity to hear FDA Commissioner Robert Califf deliver remarks at the Alliance’s quarterly member meeting on April 19. The PowerPoint deck from his speech is attached. His speech is discussed at length in this week's Analysis and Commentary.

• House Appropriations Committee Passes Ag/FDA Appropriations Bill. FDA appropriations are moving quickly in the House, with the Ag/FDA bill having adopted by the Appropriations Committee on April 19. The bill text is here and the committee report is here. For our purposes, no changes were made from the subcommittee version and our media release expressing concerns about FDA funding levels still reflects our position moving forward. House floor time has not been scheduled for the Ag/FDA bill and, reportedly, it may be some time before it is considered.

• Senate Ag/FDA Appropriations Bill Likely to Move Through Committee in May. The expectation has been that the Senate Ag/FDA subcommittee would mark up in April. This is now more likely to occur in May.

• Senate Innovations Negotiations Continue. We have been told that Senate staff continue to negotiate a Manager’s Amendment that will need to be agreed upon before the Senate Innovations legislation can move to the floor for a vote. The main obstacle appears to be how and where funding for NIH and FDA can be found. Despite efforts to set deadlines (“legislation must move in April or not at all”), it is unclear how long it will take to reach agreements. We believe that if there is a time agreement and a bipartisan manager’s amendment then Majority Leader McConnell will schedule floor time even if it takes a while. For more on the Alliance’s concerns about the FDA funding component of the negotiations, read last week’s Analysis and Commentary.