House Passes First Mini-bus; Won’t Consider Next Until Committee Acts on All 12 Bills

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.

• House Passes First Mini-bus; Won’t Consider Next Until Committee Acts on All 12 Bills. On June 8, the House passed the first mini-bus appropriations bill, which covered Energy and Water programs, Military Construction/VA, and the Legislative Branch. The next mini-bus has not been scheduled yet and is likely to wait until the Committee has adopted all 12 funding bills. With several bills passed in committee this week, only Homeland Security  and State/Foreign Operations remain incomplete. Thus, the earliest that the next mini-bus would come to the floor is the week of June 25. Otherwise, it would slip until after the Fourth of July recess.

Based on past history -- Ag/FDA is usually the fourth, fifth, or sixth appropriations bill brought to the House floor -- there is a good likelihood that Ag/FDA will be included in the second mini-bus that will be considered by the House. So, we are gearing up for floor consideration during the last week of June or by mid-July.

• Join the Alliance’s Sign-off Letter to Appropriators Supporting Robust Funding. The Alliance is committed to FDA receiving the highest level of FY 19 funding that covers all of its needs. For the most part, the higher levels are in the House bill, but we are also advocates for the food safety funding and larger increase in monies for opioid programs and generics that are in the Senate bill. While we continue to talk with appropriators, this is a situation in which a community letter is particularly valuable. Alliance members should be receiving a formal request to consider signing on the letter, but meantime the letter is in this week’s Analysis and Commentary. Please let us know if your organization wants to sign up or has questions.