Democrats turn to FDA advisory board for revised budget

House Democrats are bypassing FDA to score a budget proposal that reflects what they consider the real needs of the agency after the president's fiscal 2009 request left them scratching their heads.

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., asked FDA's science advisory board subcommittee on science and technology Monday to assess the funding needed to modernize the agency and reverse years of underfunding they say have diminished FDA's ability to do its job.

"We are deeply concerned that the budget submitted by the president is grossly inadequate to meet the many challenges at FDA as identified by the Science Board," they wrote. "It barely covers the cost of inflation and continues the trend of the inadequate budgets of previous years that have led to the current crisis at the agency."

Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., joined the chairmen in their request.

Gail Cassell, chairwoman of the science board subcommittee and vice president of scientific affairs at the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, said Tuesday she plans to convene as many members as she can to fulfill lawmakers' request, but she is not sure when they will get started.

Cassell's subcommittee released a report in December that found FDA was incapable of performing its oversight responsibilities for drugs, medical devices, food and animal feed, mainly because of severely inadequate funding.

The lawmakers requested the science board make the budget assessment informally since the subcommittee disbanded once its original agency-requested report was released.

When asked Tuesday whether FDA needs more money than the president requested, Cassell said, "Absolutely. No question about it."

Members repeatedly have attempted to pry a funding request from FDA brass that is higher than the president's, but agency officials continue to stick to the administration line and assert they can do more with less.

Senate and House committee leaders recently asked GAO to investigate FDA's resource needs.

Lawmakers particularly had an eye on FDA's budget proposal to implement its food protection plan that the agency formed in November in response to high-profile import fiascos including deadly pet food and contaminated fish from China.

The recent problems exposed rifts in FDA's efforts to police food and highlighted the agency's ability to inspect just 1 percent of imported food.

The president proposed a $42 million increase in FDA's food safety budget to bring it up to $662 million. The Energy and Commerce Committee believes inflation will leave FDA with $10 million in new money.

The science board's original report determined $250 million, a number proposed by a coalition lobbying for a boost in congressional appropriations, may not even be enough to fix FDA's food safety woes.