Emerging Information on the FY23 Budget Appropriations Process

Top-Line:

• Emerging Information on the FY23 Budget Appropriations Process

• Alliance Unveils New Website: www.strengthenfda.org

• User Fee Legislation Starts to Move in the Senate; Different Version Adopted by House Energy and Commerce Committee

• Exploring FDA Tweets

• Alliance Has More Hill Visits Planned in June; Seeking Sign-Ups

This week’s Analysis and Commentary provides Q&A on the deadline for user fee reauthorization legislation, how to find budget information about specific Centers and programs, and the potential for reconciliation to be revived and provide support for FDA.


Emerging Information on the FY23 Budget Appropriations Process.  Key Congressional leaders know appropriation bills cannot move far ahead without an agreement on the total spending amount, as well as allocations between defense and non-defense programs. As Senator Shelby, Ranking Member on Senate Appropriations has observed: “Well, you can have the markups, and that is probably OK. That is what we have done before, but nothing is going to happen until we have agreement.”

In that context, we have been told that House Appropriation Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies is looking at June 15 as a date for a mark-up. We will keep Friday Update readers apprised as this develops.

Alliance Unveils New Website: www.strengthenfda.org. In addition to our advocacy on behalf of FDA’s funding needs, the Alliance is a leader in educating policymakers, media, and the public about FDA’s mission and responsibilities. We have revamped and relaunched the Alliance’s new website (www.strengthenfda.org) to serve both purposes.

Among other things, the site contains: current and back issues of Friday Update; information and budget materials for the FY 23 funding cycle; access to material from the Alliance’s 17 webinars since April 2021, including transcripts for most of them; and information about the Alliance’s goals, leadership, and membership. We are also building a set of links to information on the FDA website that respond to questions that the Alliance is often asked.

The new site is content-rich and our goal, over time, is to make it even more useful. Please let us know if you have ideas about content related to FDA’s funding, mission, and responsibilities that you think would be valuable to Alliance members, policymakers, media, FDA stakeholders, and the public.

User Fee Legislation Starts to Move in the Senate; Different Version Adopted by House Energy and Commerce Committee. On May 26, S. 4348, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements Act (FDASLA) of 2022,  was introduced in the Senate. Notably, the bill is quite large and addresses a number of areas not covered by the House legislation. An executive session to discuss the bill has been scheduled for full committee for 10 a.m. on June 8. Our sources suggest that, absent unforeseen interim developments, the Executive Session may undertake formal ‘mark-up’ of the user fee bill and a measure on mobile health clinics.  The text of the bill can be found here and a section by section analysis can be found here.

On May 18, the House Energy and Commerce Committee adopted H.R. 7667, the “Food and Drug Amendments of 2022,” as amended, by a roll call vote of 55 – 0 (Roll call no. 119) (Final Passage). There is no indication yet as to when the full House will consider the bill. The bill can be found here.

Exploring FDA Tweets. The Alliance often devotes space to less well-known parts of FDA to illustrate the breadth of FDA activities. In that spirit, we were pleased with Politico’s interview this week with Brad Kimberly, the agency's social media director. The story, entitled “Government by Tweet“ requires scrolling down the linked page.  

Alliance Has More Hill Visits Planned in June; Seeking Sign-Ups. The Alliance conducted more than 50 Hill visits during March and April. We expect to do more in June. If you would like to be on our priority list to participate in these future Alliance Hill meetings, please contact Elisa Bayoumi.