“We certainly understand the need to reduce the federal budget, but want to be sure that Congress has a clear picture of how FDA contributes to economic growth and national security, as well as protecting our public health.”
Legislation designed to shake $100 billion in savings from the President’s fiscal 2011 budget request could slash $1 billion from the National Institutes for Health’s budget and $220 million in funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
House Resolution 38, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, calls for federal discretionary spending to be pared back to 2008 levels for a host of federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services.
If adopted, the plan would lower the NIH budget to $29.3 billion, instead of the $31 billion the agency had to work with in 2010. The FDA budget, for which President Obama has requested $4 billion in 2011, would be cut to $1.7 billion, instead of the $2.36 billion it had in 2010.
“Our nation needs an effective FDA, which requires continuing increases for an agency that has been chronically underfunded for several decades,” says Nancy Bradish Myers, president of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, a non-profit advocacy group working to increase the amount of money allocated to the agency. “We certainly understand the need to reduce the federal budget, but want to be sure that Congress has a clear picture of how FDA contributes to economic growth and national security, as well as protecting our public health.”
It’s unclear how the cutbacks would be implemented within the NIH and FDA, should they make their way into the 2011 budget bill. However as funds become more scarce, the agencies will clearly have to determine how to support their current obligations, supporting research and public safety, while still finding money for important new initiatives, such as the NIH’s Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the FDA’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
February 11, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-quest_for_savings_hits_fda_nih.html