Congress Likely to Vote Today on Appropriations/COVID-19 Funding Bill

The House and Senate are expected to vote today on a combined fiscal 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 relief legislative package after passing another stopgap spending bill Sunday to keep the federal government funded for 24 hours.

The weekend discussions on Capitol Hill followed a two-day continuing resolution passed Friday when Congress was once again unable to agree on a funding package. That stopgap bill kept the government, including the FDA, funded at fiscal 2020 levels until midnight Sunday.

If the appropriations legislation is passed, the FDA will likely see an approximately $40 million increase in funding for fiscal 2021, as both the House and Senate proposed to grant the agency about $3.2 billion. Under fiscal 2020 funding, the FDA received $3.16 billion in taxpayer funding and had a $5.8 billion total budget including user fees.

The Alliance for a Stronger FDA expressed optimism that Democrat and Republican lawmakers would reach a compromise on the appropriations and COVID-19 relief bill and get it to the president’s desk for passage but cautioned that the final steps are the most difficult.

“The appropriations and COVID-19 negotiations are well-advanced and there is widespread optimism,” the alliance said Friday. “As negotiators get closer to a final agreement, the last few remaining issues are the most difficult to resolve, which is reason for pessimism.”

Should lawmakers fail to pass appropriations legislation, “the most likely outcome would be a [continuing resolution] that runs through February or, possibly, until the end of the fiscal year. If that occurs, FDA will be able to keep spending, but at the fiscal 2020 level,” the alliance said. — James Miessler