Advocacy at a Glance

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 Appropriations Committee Votes for FY 18 FDA Funding at FY 17 Levels. The Senate Appropriations Committee has adopted an FY 18 Ag/FDA appropriations bill under which FDA would receive $1 million above the FY 17 level of $2.76 billion. In addition, the committee appropriated $60 million to fund FDA’s FY 18 activities to implement certain provisions of the 21st Century Cures legislation and adopted the same user fee levels contained in the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act (FDARA). The Senate report is here and the FDA portion is on pages 87-99. The chart on pages 89-90 reflects the Committee’s intent that the division of funds to FDA centers and programs is the same allocation used in FY 17. Alliance members and media seeking additional information should contact Steven Grossman.

• House and Senate FY 18 FDA Funding Levels Not Final; FDA Still Faces Multiple Funding Challenges this Year and Next. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have adopted similar funding levels for FDA at approximately the FY 17 levels. With this having occurred, a key Alliance goal has been achieved: preserving FDA’s core funding in the face of a 15-20% proposed cut for most federal departments and a President’s request that would have slashed BA appropriations and replaced it with new user fees that had never been negotiated. We have thanked appropriators and staff for protecting FDA.

However, complacency is not warranted on two levels. First, last week’s Analysis and Commentary, as well as the one on June 30, described a number of ways that committee-adopted funding levels might not be the amount that agencies actually have to spend by the time FY 18 arrives. Second, as discussed in this week’s Analysis and Commentary: preservation of FDA funding levels is “necessary but not sufficient” for meeting the many funding-related needs and challenges facing the agency.

• House Considering Mini-Omnibus, Ag/FDA Not Included. The House is scheduled to adjourn for summer recess on July 28 and has been considering the possibility of adopting an omnibus FY 18 appropriations bill before recess. As originally conceived, it would incorporate all 12 funding bills, many of which are just coming out of committee. At the moment, House leadership lacks enough votes to do this and reportedly is considering a mini-omnibus bill covering funding of the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Energy, as well as the Legislative Branch.

• FDA Distributes Food Safety Grants to States. For the second year, FDA has awarded grant monies to states for activities impacting food safety regulation of produce (fruits and vegetables). The amount went from $21.8 million in FY 16 to the current distribution of $30.9 million for FY 17. The states receiving awards increased from 42 to 43. For more information on the program, how much states received, and programs goals, go here.