Congress Gives FDA $1.73 Billion for Fiscal 2008

Congress passed a consolidated appropriations bill that will give the FDA nearly $1.73 billion in funding for fiscal 2008.

The bill will provide more than $267 million for CDRH and related field activities in the Office of Regulatory Affairs.

An earlier version of the bill, H.R. 3161, would have provided the FDA with $1.69 billion for fiscal 2008. The House passed that bill, but the legislation faced a veto threat from the president due to high spending levels and other concerns.

The House and Senate appropriations committees addressed other issues affecting the FDA in their explanation of the appropriations bill. For example, the committees encouraged the FDA to limit granting financial conflict-of-interest waivers to advisory committee members “to the greatest extent possible.”

While the committees were encouraged by the FDA’s announcement earlier this year that it would limit the number of waivers, they said the agency should do more.

More information on the bill can be seen at thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02764:.