Discretionary Spending Caps in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

This week’s Analysis and Commentary provides a review of the parameters for the budget deal, but many unknowns remain.

Don’t miss last Friday’s analysis of the budget deal here; you can also read media coverage about our analysis here and here.

Discretionary Spending Caps in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA; H.R. 3746), as passed by the House on May 31, 2023, includes provisions that would establish enforceable discretionary spending limits (caps) for FY2024 and FY2025. This CRS Report provides information on those limits, as well as exemptions to the limits, and discretionary spending levels in future years.

House Appropriations Markup Rumored Possible Next Week.  In late May the House Agriculture/FDA Appropriations Subcommittee forwarded to the full committee its proposed FY2024 appropriations bill.  While the markup had been scheduled for May 24, it was postponed, pending resolution of the debt limit debate.  Now that the debt limit deal has been signed into law, rumors are surfacing that the full House Appropriations Committee could reschedule the postponed markups next week.  It remains to be seen what adjustments, if any, will be made to the aggregate funding level for the bill.  The Senate Appropriations Committee is also expected to set 302(b) allocations soon, meaning the Senate Subcommittee may also markup its version of the bill by the end of the month.  The Alliance will be closely monitoring and reporting further developments in upcoming Friday Updates.

Upcoming Alliance Webinar with FDA Oncology Deputy Director Dr. Paul Kluetz. The Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) was established in 2017 to unite experts across the FDA to conduct expedited reviews of medical products for oncologic and hematologic malignancies. Dr. Paul Kluetz, Deputy Director of the OCE, will update us on the OCE–structure, resources, and advances. Join us on Tuesday, June 20th at 3:30 PM by registering here. 

Alliance Welcomed FDA Chief of Staff Julie Tierney; See Webinar Summary/Transcript. Julie Tierney, the FDA’s Chief of Staff, was the featured speaker of Monday, June 5th’s Alliance webinar. She provided a comprehensive overview of FDA staffing. Find the webinar transcript here and a summary here. You can also read media coverage of the webinar here, here, here, and here.

This was the 11th webinar of the year for the Alliance. Links to summaries and transcripts from all of our webinars can be found here.

FDA Science Forum: June 13-14 on Advancing Regulatory Science Through Innovation. This is one of FDA’s signature events for the sharing of insights from FDA’s research and regulatory science programs. Register here and here. 

Among the topics to be addressed are: 1/ improving clinical and post-market evaluation; 2/ empowering patients and consumers; 3/ advancing products based on novel technologies; 4/ food and cosmetic safety; 5/tools to effectively use big data; 6/ product development and manufacturing; 7/ medical countermeasures, infectious disease, and pathogen reduction technologies; and 8/ substance use, misuse, and addiction.