The Alliance’s Priority: Resources Not Policy

This week’s Analysis and Commentary provides four answers to not-so-easy questions about the state of FY 24 appropriations. 

The House and Senate in Fourth of July Recess. The House and Senate are in recess until the beginning of the week of July 10. No funding bills will move during this period, nor will there be any resolution of differing House and Senate views on the application of spending caps. No announcements have been made regarding plans for floor consideration of Appropriations’ bills in either the House or Senate.

The Alliance’s Priority: Resources Not Policy. All Alliance members agree on the importance of FDA funding and the value of educating policymakers about FDA’s expanding mission and growing responsibilities. These were the common purposes that brought FDA stakeholders together to form the Alliance in 2007. 

Then, as now, Alliance members support a variety of policy positions that relate directly or indirectly to the FDA. While some of those positions may, indeed, command community-wide support, we defer to other organizations and coalitions to advance them. To preserve the unanimity of support for our mission,  the Alliance has never taken positions on policy matters.   

Every year, when the Appropriations Committees release report language on Ag/FDA funding, there are questions about the Alliance’s position on one or another policy item in the report or the committee discussion. Regardless of the issues, we have to say “no” to getting involved. 

Instead, the Alliance is focused on its advocacy for more resources to meet the growing demands of the FDA. We are concerned that key items in the President’s request may not be funded. For example, the agency needs additional monies to implement the new cosmetics safety law and to strengthen a greatly-empowered food safety program. More funds are needed for a variety of medical product initiatives, regulatory science, and enterprise systems. Mandatory pay raises will need to be paid from somewhere. If not funded through appropriations, every part of FDA will have to absorb the costs. 

Upcoming Webinars: FDA Chief Scientist Dr. Namandjé Bumpus. In the first half of 2023, we completed 12 webinars in our FDA leadership series. Transcripts of each of them are at https://www.strengthenfda.org/events. 

More events are being planned. We have a commitment for a webinar in early August with FDA Chief Scientist Dr. Namandjé Bumpus Namandje. We will send an announcement and registration information as soon as we have a specific date and time. 

Friday Update Takes a Break for Fourth of July. We will not be publishing next week due to the Fourth of July holiday and the Congressional recess.  We will restart weekly editions on July 14th, 2023. During the intervening time, Alliance staff will be available if you have questions or want to chat about FDA’s resource and program needs. 

Did You Know: Alliance Is On Twitter and Linkedin. The Alliance’s Twitter and LinkedIn provide updates, commentary, and everything you need to know regarding FDA resources and programs. Please give us a follow!