FDA budget remains a mystery

What would happen if you threw an appropriations party and no one brought a budget? The House Appropriations Committee's agriculture subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over FDA's budget, answered this question last week. The subcommittee originally had scheduled a hearing on the FDA budget for March 1, two days after President Bush was slated to deliver his budget proposal to Congress. Instead of delivering the customary detail-packed telephone book-sized document, however, the White House sent a 150-page outline. The summary trumpeted a big increase in NIH spending, but it didn't even mention FDA. The subcommittee postponed the hearing for a week.

But at last week's hearing, Acting FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Bernard Schwetz didn't have any news for the subcommittee, other than to promise that the budget now will be available on April 3. ...