Congressional Action on FDA Appropriations Anticipated This Week (Special Edition)

The Analysis and Commentary for this special edition of Friday Update is entitled: “Past Analyses Provide Context for House and Senate Action on Ag-FDA Funding.”

House Appropriations Committee Taking Up Ag-FDA Bill on Wednesday

The full House Appropriations Committee will consider its Agriculture-FDA Appropriations bill on Wednesday, July 10, at 9:00 a.m.   Following is what we know at this time. 

On Wednesday the House Committee will take up 1/ the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill, 2/ the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill, and 3/ the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration bill.  

At the same markup, the full committee will consider “Revised 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations.”  Those have not been released, so we have no way of knowing whether that will impact the Ag-FDA spending bill, either positively or negatively.

As we previously reported,  the House Agriculture-FDA Subcommittee was given a total discretionary allocation of $25.873 billion, which is $355 million (1.35%) below the Fiscal Year 2024 enacted level and $2.688 billion (9.4%) below the President’s Budget Request.  The House Subcommittee bill contained a reduction of less than 1% in FDA’s Salaries and Expenses account, which is less than the percentage reduction for the entire Agriculture/FDA bill.  Absent meaningful changes in 302(b) allocations in the House, we expect these numbers to be unchanged at full committee.

No amendments have been announced as of yet.  Neither the draft bill nor the draft report have been released as of 5:00 this afternoon.  

A link to Wednesday’s live markup session can be found here.  

Senate Ag-FDA Bill Fast-Tracked to Full Committee for Consideration on Thursday

The Senate Appropriations Committee will consider its version of the Ag-FDA funding bill on Thursday, July 11, at 9:30. Following is what we know at this time.

On Thursday the Senate Committee will take up 1/ the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs bill, 2/ the Agriculture-FDA bill, and 3/ the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.  It will also formalize Fiscal Year 2025 Subcommittee Allocations.  There will not be formal subcommittee mark-ups in advance of the full committee session.  

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray in her June 18 floor statement argued for increases in non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending. While we do not know the allocation for the Agriculture-FDA bill, we were encouraged by this statement: “In FY25, I cannot accept net cuts in real resource levels to NDD, which is what a one percent increase means.” She made specific reference to FDA: “When FDA pulls an unsafe product off the shelf? That is NDD.”

Neither the draft bill nor the draft report have been released at this time. If past practice is a guide, details will become available shortly after the markup.

A link to Thursday’s live markup session can be found here.

We will provide a review of both the House and Senate action as part of our next Friday Update.