House Dems ask agencies to request full funding for FDA

House Democrats are calling on the Obama administration to request the full funding needed for the Food and Drug Administration to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act.

{mosads}In letters to the Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and the Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.) asked the agencies to avoid requesting “disproportionate new user fees” as a strategy to fund the food safety law in 2017.

The lawmakers said the FDA was able to move away from this request in their 2016 bid for a $109.5 million budget.

“As you know, Congress has rejected the administration’s last five requests to provide for the implementation of FSMA through user fees,” their letters said. “No bill to authorize such fees has been introduced and even if enabling legislation is introduced this year, it is highly unlikely that any new law will be enacted in time to fund these vital FSMA implementation steps.”

DeLauro and Farr said de-emphasizing user fees in their budget requests will strengthen the common efforts to achieve bipartisan support to fully fund this important law.