FDA user fees

Senate removes $163.4 mil. in general purpose user fees from the FY 1995 agriculture spending bill (HR 4554) Aug. 12 after the House passes a resolution authored by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Gibbons (D-Fla.) declaring the unauthorized user fees a revenue-raising measure in violation of the constitutional requirement that all such measures originate in the House. Gibbons has used this technique, known as "blueslipping," several times since becoming committee chairman. The Senate spending bill now contains a $163.4 mil. budget shortfall. The House bill, passed June 17, did not include any unspecified user fees, but contains a $103 mil. shortfall stemming from cuts to the Food Safety and Inspection Service. House-Senate conferees must now redistribute $13.4 bil. in discretionary funds. A conference date has not yet been set