The President’s proposal to freeze domestic discretionary programs in FY 2011 (and beyond) will force painful cuts across government and in programs that millions of American rely upon. Even some traditionally-favored agencies, such as NIH, are looking at only small increases. With a proposed 6% increase (about $150 million), FDA would seem to be doing far better than most.
FDA Matters feels strongly that this is not nearly enough. By my calculations, at least a $250 million increase for FDA would be needed, just to achieve the program levels anticipated in the President’s budget request. The Alliance for a Stronger FDA has asked for a $495 million increase, which could be put to good use by the agency. Why is 6% not enough?
Despite three good years of increases for FDA, we are still fighting decades of neglect. Appropriated staffing levels in 2010 are only back to where they were in 1994. Over a 25-year period, CDC has grown from an agency the size of FDA to one that is three times as large. Meantime, FDA has new responsibilities and an ever more-complex environment in which to function.
A 6% increase doesn’t go very far. A tad more than $100 million will be taken up by increases in salaries, benefits and rents. Other costs go up also. On a FY 10 base of $2.35 billion, about $40 million is available for new programming in FY 11. It will probably go to hire more food inspectors, which is an important need.
This suggests that the rest of the agency (apart from food inspection) will be able to operate in FY 11 at their FY 10 staffing/program levels. In reality, this won’t be the case unless the Congress provides FDA with an appropriation above the President’s request.
Here is why the picture is actually quite grim. According to FDA budget documents, the increased cost of salaries in FY 11 is $66 million. As far as I can tell, only about $3 million is actually part of the President’s request. So, what we consider as an increase to cover inflation…..actually does nothing of the sort. The President has told Congress: give FDA a $146 million increase in monies and it will provide a $143 million increase in programming.
So, food inspections, patient safety and advancing regulatory science (the President’s budgetary priorities) will happen….and parts of the rest of the agency will shrink (because they can’t cover inflation) OR vital, existing services will continue, but FDA won’t be able to deliver on the President’s initiatives. It will take an extra $100M (an increase of $250 million total) to cover inflation in salary, rents, etc. and provide the new programming in the President’s request.
To bring this down to specifics, the President has requested $25 million for advancing regulatory sciences. This is a priority of Commissioner Hamburg and much lauded by the stakeholder communities. At an IOM meeting last week on regulatory science, there was palpable excitement that the President had made a great first-year commitment. But follow the logic of this analysis and it is unclear whether there really will be monies to get started in FY 2011.
The bottomline: FDA needs more than the increase proposed in the President’s request. The President, by his budget justification, agrees….and envisions an FDA that will require at least a $ 250 million increase.
Steven
Some recent thoughts on the same topic, but with a different focus:
The President’s Budget Request: Is 6% Enough for FDA?
February 4th, 2010
The President’s FY 11 budget request for FDA includes a $146 million increase in appropriated (non-user fee) funding. This is about 6% of the $2.36 billion appropriation that FDA received in FY 10. With the President’s tough talk about deficit reduction, anything above a freeze should be considered good. Why was the Alliance for a Stronger FDA disappointed? Read the rest of this entry »