FDA could use more appropriations

Executive Summary

FDA could absorb an additional $100 million in funding over that proposed by the Bush Administration for fiscal 2009, but not the full $375 million recommended by the FDA Science Board, Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach tells the Senate Appropriations Committee at an April 15 hearing. "We could absorb the $100 million that you referred to, and do that quite rapidly and quite effectively," he told the panel. "As we would get closer and closer to the [$375 million] ... it would require greater stewardship to be sure we could implement those dollars as rapidly and effectively as we need to," he said. The administration's proposal provides a $51 million increase over 2008 in direct appropriations to FDA, bringing federal funding to $1.77 billion in FY 2009 (1"The Pink Sheet," Feb. 11, 2008, p. 4). "It may be our responsibility to fix OMB's mistake here. And you probably have more friends here than you might have at other places in town," Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah., told the commissioner. An amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., would increase FDA appropriations according to the Science Board's recommendations for a $375 million increase over fiscal 2008 in direct appropriations to FDA for 2009, and larger increases in each of the following five years (2"The Pink Sheet," March 3, 2008, p. 9)