Senate Ag/FDA Appropriations Committee Tops House by $6 Million

May 20

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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.

Senate Ag/FDA Appropriations Committee Tops House by $6 Million. The Senate bill reported from Committee this week would give FDA $2.760 billion for salaries and expenses (S&E) for FY 17. This is $39 million more than FY 16 and $29 million more than the President’s Request. The Senate committee mark is $6 million more than the House committee mark, with most of the additional funds allocated to food safety. For more details, read this week’s Analysis and Commentary. A center-by center chart can be found if you click here.

Senate and House Approve Zika Funding. The Senate passed a bipartisan $1.1 billion emergency supplemental to aid in the fight against Zika. The money is to come from emergency funds and will not be required to be offset. In contrast, the House set up a show-down by allocating only $622 million and requiring an offset. By comparison, the Administration had asked for $1.9 billion and is still insisting that is the amount that will be needed to deal quickly with the emergency.

A Slight Improvement -- But Not Enough!