Agency Funding
This article was originally published in SRA
Executive Summary
US Congress appropriations committees pass FDA budget bills
US Congress appropriations committees pass FDA budget bills
The US Senate appropriations committee has agreed on a bill to fund the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in fiscal year 2008 (FY2008), giving the agency's device programme over $243 million in budget authority1,2.
The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, which sets the budget for the FDA, marked up the bill on 19 July 2007, increasing the device programme's funding by $3.2 million beyond President Bush's budget request. The additional funds would be used in research conducted under the Critical Path Initiative to speed the development of new medical devices. US medical technology association AdvaMed praised the Senate subcommittee's mark up, saying it “recognised FDA's need for adequate resources to fulfil its mission to promote and protect the public health”.
The House of Representatives subcommittee on agriculture appropriations passed a similar version of the bill on the same day3. Both versions must now go before their respective chambers for approval, although this is not expected to happen until after both bodies return from the summer recess at the start of September4.
References
1. Senator Herb Kohl press release, 19 July 2007, http://kohl.senate.gov/~kohl/press/07/06/2007719A30.html
2. AdvaMed press release, 17 July 2007, www.advamed.org/MemberPortal/About/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/071707-PR-AdvaMedFDAdevicefunding.htm
3. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro press release, 19 July 2007, www.house.gov/delauro/press/2007/July/Agric_Approps_Comm_07_19_07.html
4. Personal communication, Office of Senator Kohl, 23 July 2007