FDA Matters Blog
Short Takes and Updates—February 20, 2025
1 FDA At Risk on Four Fronts
All the federal public health programs are under siege. While my focus is on FDA, I want readers to know that NIH and CDC face similar (but not identical) threats.
Reduction In Force (RIF). The new Administration sent lay-off notices to…read more…
If Being Mission-Critical Is Not Important Enough, What Is?
FDA employees--public-spirited and committed—are the heart of the agency and can proudly point to a lengthy record of accomplishment. Our country has safe food and safe and effective medical products because of their efforts. We are all affected: every American uses FDA-regulated goods and services at least several times each day…. read more…
Short Takes and Updates—February 14, 2025
1 When Will Congress Engage on the Future of FDA User Fees? Either the agency is captured by industry (Secretary Kennedy), or it is a hindrance to industry (Vivek Ramaswamy). I understand how it could be neither…but not how it can be both…read more…
FDA and Budget Reconciliation 2025: A Primer
Part 1: Meaningful Deficit Reduction Requires More Than Cuts to Discretionary Spending
In FY 2024, the federal government spent $6.75 trillion and collected $4.92 trillion in revenue, resulting in a deficit. The amount…
Is RFK, Jr., Better Suited To Be an Advisor than an Executive?
The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. confirmation hearings and the non-stop media coverage have focused, among other things, on his views on vaccines, abortion, drug pricing, and the negative aspects of the health and dietary choices of the American people.
Unfortunately, there has been far more heat than light…
Planning is a Virtue, But Government Agencies Are Paid to Deliver Results
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for helping the American people before, during, and after a disaster. It has vast responsibilities and the unenviable burden of never knowing when it will have to ramp up or what it will face.
Last week, President Trump raised the possibility of shutting down FEMA…
Keep Calm and Carry On: Lessons from Trump 1.0
Eight years ago, the first Trump Administration (Trump 1.0), came into office with the stated intent of reducing regulation, shrinking the federal workforce, and cutting agency budgets.
They were quick out of the gates with their plans. For the most part, FDA was not specifically targeted, but many (if not most) of the proposals would have impacted the agency. Understandably, it created a lot of concern among agency employees and stakeholders…
Down is Good and Up is Bad; Or is It the Other Way Around?
Chuck Jolley of Food Safety News recently wrote to me and several others asking: With so many high-profile recalls in 2024, have the federal, state, and local institutions responsible for oversight suddenly failed us? Or is something else happening?
Is a Mass Exodus From FDA Coming Soon?
INAUGURAL EDITION—January 10, 2025
FDA Matters: The Grossman FDA Report provides short-form analysis and commentary on FDA policy and regulatory issues.
The election spurred fears that a large number of federal scientists and public health staff at FDA might resign from their government posts. The potential for that was elevated by President-elect Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be Secretary of HHS. His anti-vaccine stance is widely seen as a threat to science-based decisionmaking at the agency.