FDA brass paid to stay

Executive Summary

FDA employees received $9.5 million in retention bonuses last year, leaving Congress asking why as much was spent on retention as on increased food safety oversight. At a July 17 House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., also notes that employees in the commissioner's office "collected more than 30 percent of all the top FDA cash awards in 2004, 2005 and 2006; and the Office of Regulatory Affairs only received 19 percent of all FDA's top cash awards, yet has 35 percent of all FDA employees"...