FDA Funding Increased

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the fiscal year 2007 Agriculture appropriations bill (HR 5384), which includes $18.2 billion in discretionary funds for FDA, USDA and related agencies, CQ Today reports (Richert, CQ Today, 6/22). The discretionary funds included in the legislation exceed the $17.3 billion requested by President Bush and the $17.8 billion included in the House version of the bill.

The Senate version of the legislation would provide $1.94 billion -- including user fee collections -- for FDA salaries and expenses, a $117.9 million increase from FY 2006. The funds for FDA include increases of $50.5 million for pandemic influenza preparedness, $8.6 million for medical device and animal medication reviews, $4 million for prescription drug safety, $5.5 million for food safety, $10 million for generic medication reviews, $5.9 million for the Critical Path Initiative and $2.5 million for human tissue safety.

The legislation includes a total of $107.2 million for pandemic flu preparedness, including $56 million requested by Bush. The bill also includes a provision that would require FDA to provide advance notification about conflict-of-interest waivers 15 days prior to meetings of advisory committees (Senate Appropriations Committee release, 6/22).