Senate Appropriations Committee Approves $20 Million Increase for FDA

This week’s Analysis and Commentary provides a Q&A on the implications and consequences of the Senate Appropriations Committee mark-up of the FY 24 Ag/FDA funding bill. 

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves $20 Million Increase for FDA. On Thursday, June 22, the full Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously reported S. 2131, the FY 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. This is only the 2nd of 12 appropriations bills, so the bill may wait for other funding bills before being considered by the full Senate.  

The measure includes $3.55 billion for FDA, an increase of $20 million over the $3.53 billion provided by the House measure.  The Senate bill also provides $12.788 million for Buildings and Facilities.   No such funds were included in the House measure.  The Senate Subcommittee did not hold a formal markup session.  The FDA portions of Senate Report 118-44 can be found here.

A summary provided by the Senate Appropriations Committee says the bill “…provides a $20 million increase in funding for the FDA to carry out its critical mission to keep families healthy and safe. More specifically, it provides an additional $7 million to conduct oversight of cosmetics for the first time ever, $3.75 million to strengthen FDA’s food safety programs, $3.75 million to address device shortages and supply chain issues, $3 million to advance neuroscience research, and $2.5 million for ALS research.”

Direct comparison of the House and Senate bills has limited utility at this time. The House proposal for FDA is less, but the House is working from overall and subcommittee spending levels that are also less than the Senate. 

For background on the House markup, the Alliance’s summary of FDA provisions is House Appropriations Committee Advances FY 24 Ag/FDA Bill - Senate Markup Set for Thursday, June 22. Our Analysis and Commentary on the House markup is a Q&A on House Appropriations Markup. No further action on the House Agriculture/FDA has been announced as of press time.

House and Senate to Start Fourth of July Recess. Starting on June 26, the House and Senate will be in recess until the beginning of the week of July 10. No funding bills will move during that period, nor will there be any resolution of differing House and Senate views on the application of spending caps. 

Transcript and Summary Available for Alliance Webinar with Dr. Paul Kluetz. Dr. Paul Kluetz, Deputy Director of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), was the featured speaker of Tuesday, June 20th’s Alliance webinar. He provided a comprehensive overview of OCE–structure, resources, and advances. Find the webinar transcript here and a summary here. 

This was the 12th webinar of the year for the Alliance. Links to summaries and transcripts from all of our webinars can be found here.

Did You Know: Alliance Website Has Complete Budget Documents. The Alliance’s website provides links to all FDA budget documents from FY 20 through FY 24 (here). This includes the President’s Budget Request and Congressional Appropriations documents, including final Explanatory Statements. 

Further Webinars in Development for Second Half of 2023. The Alliance for a Stronger FDA advocates for FDA resources and educates about the FDA’s expanding mission and growing responsibilities. Our webinars help inform policymakers, thought leaders, and stakeholders about the key role that FDA plays in our society and our economy.  

Toward that end, watch this space in the weeks to come as we announce a robust series of topical webinars through the rest of this year.