FDA’s FY 24 Budget Q&A
Q: I have an FDA budget table that says the FDA’s FY 24 budget authority request is $3.963 billion. However, your Senate testimony says the BA request is $3.914 billion? Which is correct?
A: Different numbers in different tables is a problem. We do our best to reconcile them.
In this case, the difference is the $50 million for CURES. It is not BA. Rather, it is monies generated by a reduction in mandatory spending (aka a CHMP). Some (but not all) of the FDA charts recognize this distinction, but not all do.
If you go to the FDA’s FY 24 all-purpose chart (page 20, here), you will see the components of the larger amount you cite. The BA increase is $366 million in BA salaries and expenses (S&E) and $6 million in BA buildings and facilities (B&F). Then the $50 million in CURES monies. This split in the BA between S&E and B&F is yet another basis for different charts to display different numbers.
The Appropriations Committees are sensitive to the BA/CHIMP distinction—the CURES money is always in a separate section after the BA appropriations section.
Q: What are the main program elements of the President’s request?
The Administration’s request, which the Alliance supports, has four components:
Proprietary Enhancing Food Safety, Nutrition and Cosmetics
• $128.2 million. The FY 24 FDA budget request places a strong emphasis on strengthening food and nutrition programs.
• $5 million toward modernizing oversight of cosmetics. The budget includes new funding for implementation of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA).
Advancing Access to Safe and Effective Medical Products
• $23 million in additional funds to advance the goal of ending the opioid crisis.
• $11.6 million increase toward improving the medical device supply chain and shortage programs.
• $2.5 million to implement ACT for ALS to foster development of treatments for ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases.
Reigniting Cancer Moonshot
• $50 million to advance the President’s Cancer Moonshot goals. This funding will advance the President’s Cancer Moonshot.
Strengthening Public Health and Mission Support Capacity (agency-wide impact)
• $10 million in further investments in enterprise data and IT modernization.
• $16 million for regulatory and mission support functions within the Office of the Commissioner.
• $9.4 million for FDA buildings, facilities, and infrastructure improvements.
• $105.3 million for cost-of-living salary increases for FY 23 and FY 24.
Q: There is a divided Congress and the threat of rolling back federal discretionary spending to FY 22 levels. What are the prospects for passage of any FY24 spending bills?
A: Hard to tell at this point. Appropriations Committees will be reluctant to mark-up spending bills if they have not been given an aggregate FY 24 budget for federal discretionary programs. With a divided Congress, it is hard to reach such an agreement; made harder by the need to increase the federal debt ceiling sometime this summer.
In the absence of a bipartisan, bicameral spending agreement, House Republicans will probably mark-up bills without support from the Democratic minority. Those bills might peg spending at the FY 22 level (which has been proposed), which would be a minimum of a $200 million decrease for the FDA. The Senate will definitely need bi-partisan bills if it wants spending to proceed.
With regard to the threat of FY 22 funding levels, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Ag/FDA spending, Representative Andy Harris, has said it is unlikely that the panel will push to cut the agency’s funding to fiscal 2022 levels, citing its responsibilities overseeing the safety of drugs and food.
Editorial Note: The Analysis and Commentary section is written by
Steven Grossman, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.