FDA Budget Update from Alliance for a Stronger FDA

Alliance for a Stronger FDA states: 

Advocacy at a Glance offers you the bullet point summary of current advocacy issues associated with the goals of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.

• Thanksgiving Recess Begins, Lawmakers Set for End-Of-The-Year Sprint When They Return. Congress leaves town today with both the House and the Senate scheduled to be on a 10-day Thanksgiving recess.  Both chambers are expected to be back in session on December 2nd. When lawmakers return they will be focused on budget issues as a House-Senate Budget Conference Committee races to meet a December 13th deadline for making recommendations on a FY 2014 budget framework. Keep in mind that December 13th is a soft deadline for the Budget Conference recommendations, and the hard deadline is January 15th, which is when the Federal government would shut down if a spending bill is not passed.

• Rumors of Progress on Budget Talks: Still Rumors. In an article on Wednesday,Politico reported possible progress in the House-Senate budget negotiations. While stressing that no deal is ready or even certain, the article states that “the changing dynamics are the result of several factors: the fears among GOP defense hawks of deep Pentagon cuts in the new fiscal year; the desire of Republican leaders to avoid another disastrous shutdown fight; and the willingness of Democrats to consider other revenue raisers besides tax increases.”

• GOP Appropriators Urge Swift Action on Budget Deal. In a regular order process, the Budget Committees set the topline Federal spending number, and then the Appropriations Committee divides up how that money will be spent. On Monday, the 13 top Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee joined in signing a letter urging the members of the House-Senate Budget Conference Committee to “redouble” their efforts and report a top-line number for discretionary spending for the remainder of FY14 and the full year of FY15. The appropriators requested this information before Thanksgiving — or no later than December 2nd.  “If a timely agreement is not reached, the likely alternatives could have extremely damaging repercussions,” warns the letter. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R, KY) led in organizing the letter and all 12 of his subcommittee chairs signed on as well. Steven Grossman provides further insight on the letter in today’s Analysis and Commentary.

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