The summer Congressional recess is scheduled at press time for August 8 until September 6. However, what is really on the minds of both Democrats and Republicans are not vacations, but the fall elections. Every House seat will be up for grabs on the ballot come November 8 while only 34 of the Senate’s 100 seats are up this year. Then after a full month of work in September, taking off only for Rosh Hashana on September 26, Congress is set to take two weeks off in both October and November. The schedule builds in more than two straight weeks off in the run-up to Election Day as the senators facing competitive races look to ramp up their campaigns while all House members will be on the campaign trail. So, get ready for a barrage of political print and electronic ads to come your way! And, it goes without saying that this fall is also going to be a real test of the ”power of Trump.” Stay tuned!
FDA In The Headlines
In the past few months, I have written in my commentary how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been raked over the coals lately by both government officials and non-government organizations (NGOs) that have claimed that the FDA is spending far too much time on their “drug” mandate and not enough time on their “food” mandate. It has gotten so bad that several senators hope to urge their peers to vote in the affirmative to create a new food safety agency called the Food Safety Administration.
Last month during a hearing held by a Senate subcommittee that overlooks FDA, the agency’s top officials were questioned repeatedly on how they plan to make food safety a priority at their agency. Robert Califf, the FDA commissioner said, in replying to the tough grilling, that the answer would come after a thorough current “top to bottom” review of the agency is completed. Commissioner Califf said he was planning to rely heavily on a formal study and analysis of his agency soon to be undertaken by the Reagan Udall Foundation, an external group with ties to the FDA. It was announced that once the study process begins in early fall, a final report is planned to be made public within a tight 60-business day timeframe. This final in-depth report should be most interesting and hopefully will result in key new directives for the agency with renewed emphasis upon food issues. However, at the hearing, FDA also said what it needs most at this time is more money as they candidly admitted at the hearing that the bulk of their funding goes to the drug side of the agency’s business which has been working hard combating the pandemic and the monkeypox.
Is There A New Food Safety Administration In The Future?
Like anything else in life, it is always good to have a “Plan B.” Such is the case with Senators Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Dick Durbin (D- IL) as after months of chatter, debate, and some procrastination thrown in, the two senior senators have introduced legislation that would create a new food safety agency called the Food Safety Administration. Many months ago, I hinted that this dynamic duo were planning to make the move and it has finally happened. However, not everyone is sold on the idea as other politicians want to give the FDA commissioner time to straighten out his agency and it is hoped that the Reagan Udall Foundation study will do just that.
The two senators’ Food Safety Administration Act would place the proposed new agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. The legislation is intended to bring “focused leadership and more accountability, a unified structure and bring on a full-time senior leader” to strengthen oversight of the food supply, said DeLauro, chair of the House appropriations committee.
The legislation is endorsed by many NGO heavyweights including the Center for Food Safety, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, the Center for Environmental Health and others.
Our analysis at Policy Solutions is that the legislation will not move forward as FDA works toward their goal of becoming better organized with more emphasis upon food issues and food safety. Thus, we think Plan B will have to wait in the wings for the time being.
Rules Committee Meets To Discuss Funding
The House rules committee met last month to consider several annual funding bills including a House bill to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the FDA. And, as previously mentioned above, FDA said it really needs more money to do a better job. Well, the Agriculture-FDA bill advanced from the House appropriations committee in June and includes $27.2 billion in discretionary funding, including billions for agriculture, conservation and nutrition programs. It is a $2 billion increase from last year’s spending but falls just short of what the White House proposed. Yet, FDA would still receive the additional funds it said it needs.
Specifically, the bill would fund the special supplemental nutrition program for Woman, Infants and Children (WIC) at $6 billion and allocate $28 billion to other child nutrition programs, including school meals programs. The bill also includes more than $1 billion for conservation operations, $560 million for rural broadband and $1.8 billion for the international assistance program Food for Peace. After the bill clears the rules committee, it will be sent to the House floor for a full vote. Then Senate action occurs with their companion bill. Final action is expected this fall.
Consumer Spend Up
USDA’s latest forecast regarding food prices indicates that consumers will continue to spend more on all food, including meats, pork and poultry, through the end of this year, according to an item that crossed my desk from Meatingplace News. USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that food prices climbed 1.1 percent between April and May this year and were 10.1 percent higher last month compared with prices in May 2021. As a result, ERS also forecast that all food prices will increase between 7.5 percent and 8.5 percent versus base prices recorded at the end of 2021. No one likes paying more but, hey, look on the bright side. If you are getting Social Security, an 8 to 10 percent increase in your monthly check should come your way in January, the largest increase since 2009.
FDA Introduces Innovative Proposal To Advance Consumer Access To Non-Rx Drugs
The FDA has issued a proposed rule entitled “Nonprescription Drug Product with an Additional Condition for Nonprescription Use” which is intended to broaden the range of marketed nonprescription drugs available to consumers, empowering them to self-treat certain common conditions and improving public health.
“Nonprescription drug products play a vital role in America’s healthcare system, as millions of people use them to self-manage health conditions every day,” said FDA Commissioner Califf. “As part of the FDA’s ongoing efforts to improve public health, this proposal can broaden the types of drugs that can be approved as nonprescription – increasing availability of drugs that would otherwise only be available by prescription.”
The proposed rule, if finalized, would expand options for consumers by establishing the requirement for a drug company that submits a new application to bring a nonprescription drug product to market with an additional condition for nonprescription use. Under the proposed rule, when the FDA finds that labeling alone is not sufficient to ensure that the consumer can appropriately self-select and use a drug product in a nonprescription setting, an applicant may submit an application proposing an additional condition for nonprescription use that a consumer must successfully fulfill to obtain the nonprescription drug product. Got it? If not, please re-read. After comments are received by FDA, the agency will develop a final rule which should occur by the end of this year.
USDA Announces New Initiative To Prevent And Reduce Food Waste
The U.S. wasted $408 billion worth of food in 2019 – more than a third of the total U.S. food supply. Wasted food results in unnecessary uses of energy as well as methane and CO2 emissions; reducing food waste can help the U.S. meet its climate commitments. On June 2 USDA announced a framework for shoring up the food supply chain and transforming the food system to be fairer, more competitive, and more resilient.
As part of this initiative, USDA will invest $90 million to reduce food loss and waste, with $30 million of this amount provided to the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. Also, in this current year, $10.2 million will be awarded to fund pilot projects that develop and implement strategies for food waste reduction and compost plans. Many food chains have already created innovative projects to reduce food waste. If your business has not, and you have a plan in mind to reduce food waste and help address environmental concerns, you may want to check into this grant pilot project. For more information, e-mail UrbanAgriculture@usda.gov.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net.
