Trump Budget for FDA a ‘Non-starter’: Alliance

The Trump Administration’s proposed budget for FDA in 2018, which cuts the agency’s budget authority (BA) by 37%, “is a non-starter,” writes Alliance for a Stronger FDA deputy director Steven Grossman in the 180-member organization’s 5/12 Friday Update. That’s because, he continues, “it threatens to upset a careful and historically-proven balance between BA appropriations and user fees that has helped the agency to grow and succeed in the face of an increasingly large and scientifically complex mission.”

According to the Friday Update, referring to Trump’s so-called “skinny budget” released in mid-March, the 2018 Trump budget request for FDA would replace $1 billion in BA funding with $1 billion in new user fees. The full version of the budget request is set for release 5/23. “We are hopeful (but not necessarily optimistic) that the Administration has abandoned this approach and will continue to maintain support for the vital activities at FDA,” the update says.