|
Senate Budget Resolution Takes on Medicaid,
Medicare and More
Despite approval on Thursday of the FY2006 Budget
Resolutions in the Senate (51-49) and House (218-214), hopes of coming
to an agreement on a single resolution could be unlikely.
In a surprise move, the Senate rebutted the White House's proposed
cuts to the Medicaid budget. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-OR) amendment
deleting the Administration’s proposed $14 billion reductions
in Medicaid over the next five years passed by 52 – 48, with
seven Republicans joining with the Senate's 44 Democrats and one independent.
In contrast, the House's Budget Resolution provides for up to $20 billion
in decreases in Medicaid.
Medicaid looks to be a deal-breaker for the Senate and House to agree
on a single Budget Resolution. The White House praised the House Resolution,
with party leaders expressing disappointment in Smith’s amendment.
Smith had been under intense pressure from Republican party leaders
to change or withdraw the measure.
While Medicaid provides the biggest obstacle to agreement,
other differences in the resolutions include a Senate passed amendment
by Sen. Arlen
Specter (R-PA) increasing funding for National Institutes of Health
(NIH). The language provides for an increase in funding from $28.6
billion, or 2.7% higher than FY2004, to $29.4 billion or 5.3% higher
than FY2004. The proposed White House budget calls for only a 2.7%
increase for NIH in FY2005, which does not keep pace
with the rate of biomedical inflation, projected to be 3.5% in 2005.
Tackling the issue of influenza vaccines, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
offered an amendment that establishes a reserve fund for influenza
vaccine shortage prevention provided separate legislation on this issue
passes out of the Senate HELP Committee. The "Flu Vaccine Shortage
Prevention" amendment creates a reserve fund that would support
legislation to increase participation of manufacturers in the production
of influenza vaccine and increase research in new technologies for
development of influenza vaccine. The amendment also seeks to support
efforts to enhance the U.S.'s ability to track and respond to domestic
influenza outbreaks as well as pandemic containment efforts. Finally,
the amendment addresses the threat of bioterrorism by encouraging technology,
tracking and response efforts consistent with those undertaken to prevent
future flu vaccine shortages.
At the same time, the Senate voted down an amendment
by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) that would have
given the Secretary
of Health and Human Services (HHS) the specific authority to negotiate
lower prices for drug purchases through Medicare.
Return to top
Senate Pushes Back on Bush Ag Budget Cuts,
but House Cuts More
In an escalating war over FY2006 budget cutting, the Senate this week
approved its budget resolution paring back White House ag budget cuts
to $2.8 billion over five years. The House, not happy with the overall
Senate budget action due to spending reinstatement, would trim $5.3
billion from ag over the same period.
While ag groups opposed to the cuts see the Senate action as good
news, they say more work needs to be done to preserve 2002 Farm Bill
programs. For FY2006, the House budget resolution means $797 million
in cuts may have to be found. President Bush requested cuts totaling
what the White House said amount to $7.5 billion over five years, but
which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated would actually
cost $9.1 billion. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss
(R-GA) said the Senate resolution will allow him to find cuts in ag
spending without changing current Farm Bill programs. The outlook in
the House, however, is not as clear.
The budget resolutions set overall spending limits for the federal
government, and for FY2006 that amount hits about $2.6 trillion. Once
agreed to, that spending limit creates the specific amount the respective
appropriations committees can allocate among departments and agencies.
Both budget resolutions now move to conference committee.
Return to top
The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health
met March 17 to begin what is expected to be a lengthy process of developing
legislation to reauthorize the programs of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH). Subcommittee Chair Nathan Deal (R-GA) noted NIH reauthorization
has been pending “longer than most of us have been serving in
Congress.” He argued for moving ahead with reauthorization and
urged members of Congress and outside stakeholders to put aside differences
and “pet projects” and not allow “one minor set of
issues” to prevent this being accomplished.
Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-TX) echoed these sentiments and laid
out several concerns about NIH, including that its organizational structure
is so large and complicated that it cannot operate efficiently. He
noted Congress was partly at fault for the proliferation of institutes
and centers of NIH, along with interest groups who pushed for targeted
programs.
Barton laid out three actions he believes Congress needs to take to
improve the effective operation of NIH: Increase the authority of the
NIH director to allow for more flexibility in the allocation and/or
transfer of funds among Institutes and Centers and use funds to support
cross-cutting research and management projects; align the NIH budget
authorities better, including considering “budget clusters” to
allow more spending flexibility; and, create more transparent reporting
system to replace specific disease-related reports from NIH to Congress
with more comprehensive, broad research area reports.
Ranking subcommittee member Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) highlighted
the challenges facing NIH in terms of diseases and conditions yet to
be cured as well as emerging conditions. He urged legislative activity
be directed at streamlining communication between NIH and Congress
and ensuring adequate funding for NIH given that the current Administration
budget proposal does not provide for an increase in NIH funding for
the next fiscal year. He further urged for legislation to define NIH
priorities more effectively and working with NIH to achieve a better
understanding not only of what resources are needed, but what are the
tangible benefits of the NIH funding.
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NIH Director, testified NIH must adapt to the
changing nature of science and needs of public health. He noted investigator-initiated
research will always be the mainstay of the enterprise, but ideas coming
from individual researchers are only one part of a process to identify
and pursue new, high-priority scientific opportunities. He discussed
his new approach to priority setting that will complement existing
processes and involve a newly established Office of Portfolio Analysis
and Strategic Initiatives that will take a “global view of what
we fund.” Zerhouni also discussed his “Roadmap for Medical
Research,” highlighting several components. For example, by FY2006
Molecular Libraries Screening Centers will identify molecules that
have potential as biochemical probes. An Imaging Probe Development
Center will also be operating.
Zerhouni said the “Roadmap” has played a significant role
in “shifting the culture of NIH from single-purpose research
funded by individual Institutes and Centers to research that will benefit
all endeavors.” As an example, he cited the Strategic Plan for
Obesity, a trans-NIH initiative to bring together the work and resources
of multiple components of NIH to address a public health crisis. He
also mentioned the Neuroscience Blueprint, which is a coordinated effort
in brain research.
The subcommittee and committee are expected to hold several additional
hearings as they work to develop and pass NIH legislation with bipartisan
support.
Return to top
GAO Questions FDA Enforcement of BSE Feed Rule
In its third investigation in five years of how FDA enforces its BSE
feed rule, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week said
while the agency has improved, it needs to develop a system to identify
feed companies, transporters, on-farm mixers and “other feed
industry businesses” subject to the feed ban but not yet inspected
by FDA.
GAO, the investigatory arm of Congress, said “program weaknesses” limit
the effectiveness of the feed rule, “plac(ing) U.S. cattle at
risk of spreading BSE.” The report, done at the request of Sens.
Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), carries
nine recommendations for improved enforcement by the agency.
Those recommendations include the identification of
additional companies subject to the rule; requiring companies using
prohibited protein material
to notify FDA; developing guidance for inspectors to systematically
test to verify cattle feeds don’t contain restricted material,
and equipment and truck cleanout are effective; collecting feed tests
from states; developing a design for FDA inspectors to routinely sample
finished feed and ingredients; requiring the “do not feed to
cattle or other ruminants” statement on feeds/ingredients for
export; ensuring USDA and states are alerted if problems with compliance
arise;
modifying
inspection forms to reflect questions on transportation cleanout, and
ensuring inspection results are “reported in a complete and accurate
context.”
FDA said it has considered, implemented or agrees with five of the
nine recommendations, but considers four others – primarily related
to testing -- to be impractical or have no material benefit to risk
mitigation. FDA said tests will only confirm the presence of animal
material, not illegal ingredient use since the rule has exemptions
for some ruminant products, such as milk.
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), while supporting FDA’s
risk-based priority inspection system, said the testing by USDA of
over 275,000 animals with no BSE positives found demonstrates the feed
rule is working. AFIA also said analysis of enforcement and compliance
must include voluntary actions by industry to reinforce the feed rule.
AFIA cited its Feed Certification Institute (FCI) and Safe Feed/Safe
Food programs as effective independent auditing systems designed to
ensure broad industry compliance with the FDA feed rule.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) said while
the GAO report “provides FDA and industry many important observations … it
is important to note that the GAO never verified the potential risk
reduction significance of any of the additional measures” recommended
to FDA.
Return to top
Japan, Canada Beef Trade Developments
Don’t look for an open U.S. border until some time in 2006,
say Canadian beef industry officials, so some Canadian cattlemen will
sue the U.S. USDA says it will appeal the recent federal court ruling
halting reopening of the Canadian border, and Japanese officials say
they’re not stalling on renewed U.S. beef trade, with one minister
saying he’s just about had it with U.S. pressure.
An official of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
(CCA) says he doesn’t expect the U.S./Canada border to reopen
until some time in 2006, and blames R-CALF legal actions for the delay.
Dennis
Laycraft of CCA said, “You could easily get into nine months
to a year and a half…in terms of the likely time frame around
these court proceeding,” according to reports.
Some Canadian ranchers are ready to file a suit worth
at least $300 million against the U.S. over U.S. inaction on resuming
animal and
beef trade with Canada. The suit, to be brought under NAFTA, is likely
to be filed by Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade (CCFT) representing
500 ranch families. CCFT was to have filed a notice of arbitration
in Washington, DC on March 16 using Chapter 11 of NAFTA, which allows
suits brought by investors if they believe their investment has been
hurt by law or regulation.
USDA announced the Department of Justice filed a request
with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit asking the court
to overturn
the U.S. district court decision temporarily enjoining USDA from reopening
the Canadian border on March 7. USDA said its rulemaking is the product
of a multi-year scientific process providing protection to human and
animal health.
In Japan, where Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
will press the beef issue this weekend, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
reportedly
denied yet again his country is stalling on resuming beef trade with
the U.S. His remarks were in response to congressional resolutions
introduced over the last couple of weeks threatening U.S. sanctions
against his country if trade doesn’t resume soon. “If the
beef is safe, we want to eat it, whether it is raised in America or
wherever,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hiroyuki Hosoda, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary,
told the Wall Street Journal he’s just about had it with U.S.
pressure. “We are aware of political moves on the U.S. side,
but the U.S. has also banned imports of Japanese beef due to BSE,” he
said. “It is not easy to make progress on the issue of food safety
in this way.”
Return to top
Japanese Say R-CALF Actions Will
Slow Reopening Market
R-CALF ran a half-page ad in the March 15 Washington
Post thanking
the Senate for passing a resolution of disapproval on the USDA rulemaking
on imports of Canadian live cattle and urging the House to do the same.
Reports have surfaced that one Japanese official told R-CALF its actions
on the USDA rulemaking are delaying resuming beef trade between Japan
and the U.S.
According to a published report by Jim Wiesemeyer of Informa Economics,
Washington, D.C., quoting an unnamed Japanese official, the Senate’s
action and R-CALF’s lobbying gave rise to a consumer campaign
in Japan against normalizing beef trade. According to this official,
saying Canadian beef may be unsafe, as R-CALF has alleged, creates
questions about the safety of U.S. beef since Japan views the U.S.
and Canada as one integrated market.
R-CALF head Bill Bullard told Dow Jones the Japanese opinions make
no sense and are at odds with previous statements concerning production
practices and protocols for processing beef. He also said the R-CALF
group who met with the Japanese official did not know he was a government
representative, and assumed his opinions were not the official Japanese
position.
Return to top
Ag Groups Push To Repeal Cuba Trade Rules
The House Agriculture Committee this week heard from a number of ag
groups who, eager to increase trade with Cuba, urged the ag panel to
take action to reverse a new Treasury Department rule they say makes
it almost impossible to trade with Cuba. At the same time, 33 U.S.
companies and groups formally petitioned Treasury to allow existing
contracts with Cuba to proceed under terms in place before the rulemaking.
The rule, designed to tighten financial requirements on trade with
Cuba, went into effect February 22, redefining the term “payment
of cash in advance” to mean sellers must receive payment before
shipments leave the U.S. or move through a third nation letter of credit.
Previously goods could be shipped and payment received before the shipment
was unloaded in Cuba. While there’s a 30-day transition period
in the rule, there is also a penalty provision if goods aren’t
delivered by March 24.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), chair of the House Agriculture Committee,
said “I find it disturbing the Treasury Department’s Office
of Foreign Asset Control is placing…unnecessary barriers to agricultural
trade with Cuba.”
Return to top
Senate Committee Holds Crawford Nomination
Hearing
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
Pensions (HELP) held a March 17 hearing to consider the nomination
of Dr. Lester M. Crawford
to be commissioner of Food Drug Administration (FDA). Members participating
in the hearing included Committee Chair Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), ranking
Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Johnny
Isaakson (R-GA), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chris Dodd
(D-CT), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA),
Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT).
Enzi noted FDA has been through a difficult
period and faces drug safety improvements,
the flu vaccine shortage, the need to rebuild the domestic vaccine
industry, and food safety and security. He said the Committee
received more than 100 letters of support for Crawford’s nomination
and one letter raising concerns, referring to a joint letter from Consumers
Union, Consumer Federation of America, and the U.S. Public Interest
Research Group. The letter calls for “substantive rather than
symbolic drug safety reform,” including public disclosure of
all clinical trial results, more independence for the Office of Drug
Safety, and greater authority for FDA to require post-market studies
and label changes.
Kennedy said Crawford, as acting FDA commissioner,
has led the agency in “troubled times” and FDA must change
from an “atmosphere that stifles debate,” a phrase quoted
from the New England Journal of Medicine. He said Crawford must present
a clear plan for change to be confirmed.
Plan B Over-the-Counter Application
Murray, Mikulski, and Clinton asked Crawford for a private briefing
prior to any further Committee or Senate action on his nomination.
They want Crawford to provide a progress report on
the Plan B over-the-counter application, demonstrate FDA’s
decision is being driven by science, not politics, and explain specifically
why, as he stated, this application is “unique” and “difficult” and
thus is taking a longer than “usual” to be completed.
Clinton repeatedly asked Crawford to confirm that Plan B is for prevention,
not termination of pregnancy. When Crawford replied he wanted to
confer with FDA experts, Clinton stated, “but experts at FDA
have already made their recommendation.” She asked Crawford
to commit he would not allow “this dangerous slide into
politics from science” to continue. Kennedy and Jeffords supported
the Plan B concerns.
Enzi promised to schedule a meeting so Crawford could
brief interested committee members and staff regarding Plan B, providing
information
to the extent legally allowable.
Drug Safety
Kennedy and Mikulski discussed with Crawford the need for change at
the FDA, with Kennedy pointing to comments made to the Committee
by Dr. Sandra Kweder, acknowledging “lapses” and mistakes
in FDA’s actions regarding VIOXX. In response to the question
of what he planned to do about this, Crawford pointed to an IOM study
saying he will evaluate the “culture” of the agency and
make recommendations; his goal of greater transparency in agency
decision-making; a new system for engaging scientific debate within
the agency, including ensuring that minority opinions are weighed
appropriately; a change in the agency process of disclosing the backgrounds,
and possible conflicts of interest, of advisory committee members;
the new independent Drug Safety Board (Crawford said that that
Board’s deliberations will be made public immediately); and
more timely public communication of safety concerns via the new Drug
Watch web page.
When questioned about the Office of Drug Safety (ODS),
Crawford stated a new office director will be named
soon and that it is his intent to keep the Office in the Center
for Drug Evaluation and Research. Mikulski insisted ODS should be in
the Office of the Commissioner to assure the office is independent
of inherent conflicts within the center, with those who approve products
being reluctant to take action against them. Dodd agreed, noting the
2002 report of the HHS Inspector General indicating 1/5 of reviewers
said they felt “pressured” to approve applications and
1/3 of FDA reviewers were not convinced that agency did a good
job in evaluating drug safety. He asked Crawford whether the agency’s
reputation was tarnished. Crawford responded “no” and he is committed
to not “have this happen again.” He will work
with Congress and is open to suggestions, including the appropriate
location for ODS within FDA.
Enzi and Isaakson noted testimony from non-FDA witnesses
at an earlier hearing regarding keeping deliberations about safety
and benefit together
to ensure the balance between benefit and risk is at the forefront
of decision-making. Isaakson emphasized the importance of institutionalizing
electronic collection of drug use information from multiple sources
to ensure information from as many users as possible can be evaluated
together. He also sympathized with FDA’s difficult task of balancing
the public’s desire for fast access to new therapies against
risks associated with all products.
Additional Issues
Enzi - PDUFA, confirming the benefits of user fees
in getting products to patients expeditiously
DeWine - Need for a process to expedite pediatric device development
akin to the pediatric drugs initiatives, status of FDA’s regulation
on labeling for salt content of food products labeled “healthy,” and
ensuring an expedited process for approving pediatric AIDS drugs
Harkin - Implementation of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education
Act (DSHEA), status of the dietary supplement GMPs regulation, and
status of restaurant ”labeling” for nutrition information
Dodd - FDA should help get rid of “bad” snacks sold in
school vending machines
Sessions - Reducing review and approval times for generic drugs and
vaccine availability hindered by out of control lawsuits
Hatch - Plans to continue assuring the security of the food supply
against bioterrorism threats and standards for quality and safety of
cord blood
Jeffords - More funds from PDUFA
for drug safety, including post-market monitoring (Crawford responded
he thought this could be on the table
in the next PDUFA reauthorization), mandatory public disclosure of
clinical trials and results, and prescription drug importation (Crawford
said while the Administration’s position is that this cannot
be done safely, FDA is open to working with Congress)
The hearing record is expected be complete by April
4, with Enzi planning to move the nomination by April 13. Grassley,
however,
stated he remains concerned and could hold up the nomination if
he does not receive answers to multiple drug safety questions and requested
documents.
Return to top
Take Us Out To The Ballgame?
House Government Reform Committee Takes On National Pastime
In a marathon 11-hour hearing March 17 before a packed
audience of hundreds of reporters and baseball fans, the House Government
Reform
Committee heard testimony from Major League Baseball (MLB) officials,
MLB current and retired players (mostly testifying under subpoena),
sports and addiction physicians, the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
parents of teens who had used steroids, and Baseball Hall-of-Famer
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY). The topic: abuse of anabolic steroids by baseball
players and the league’s recently adopted
policy on steroid use, was a headline-grabber that had the unusual
effect
of bringing the members of the committee together in a bipartisan fashion
to attack MLB. Fans of the game lined the hallways and headlines in
papers across the country tell the story.
On a serious note, the issue of anabolic steroids
turned the discussion in an interesting direction. Lat year Congress
passed and the President
signed into law the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, to clarify
so-called anabolic steroid precursors are also steroids under
the Controlled Substances Act. The legislation includes a long list
of chemicals that, in addition to substances already listed as anabolic
steroids, are subject to a number of regulations, including they
cannot be sold over the counter. The rationale for the legislation
was that many of these substances were not considered “steroid” and
were being obtained and used by young people. Many sports organizations,
including the Olympics, have policies banning the use of anabolic
steroids; those policies would now be expanded to include the steroid
precursors listed by the new law. MLB came late to
instituting penalties for using these substances, though
whether they are truly “banned” was the subject of dissension
at the hearing.
A key point raised by several witnesses, including the physician who
now serves as medical advisor to MLB and previously was affiliated
with the National Football League, was that the major problem is not
the use of specific banned substances themselves, but the use of “legal” products
that include these substances as “contaminants.” Several
members of the Committee picked up on this, with Rep. Henry Waxman
(D-CA) raising questions about “legal dietary supplements” containing
substances that otherwise are “banned.” Since Waxman has
been a proponent of stronger regulation of dietary supplements, he
is likely to continue pursuing this “crossover” concept
of products regulated as supplements having the same or similar adverse
effects and potential for abuse as products regulated as anabolic steroids.
Return to top
FOIA Compliance Bills Introduced,
Hearing Held
Three bills have recently been introduced in Congress, designed
to increase compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Concerns have been raised about the responsiveness and timeliness
of the responses to FOIA requests by a number of government departments
and agencies.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX)
and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S. 589 and S. 394. On the House
side, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced
companion legislation to H.R. 867. One bill (S. 589) proposes the establishment
of a Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays to
identify ways to reduce delays in the processing of FOIA requests.
The other bills, S. 394/H.R. 867, are designed to improve compliance
with FOIA by creating disciplinary action, time limits, and an Internet-
or telephone-tracking system for FOIA requests.
According to Leahy, since FOIA was updated in 1996 to address digital
communications, there has been a concern that homeland security legislation
will trump citizens' rights with regard to access to information.
A March 16 hearing was held on these bills by a subcommittee of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Witness testimony is available here: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1417
Return to top
Bills Introduced to Award Congressional Gold
Medal to Dr. Michael E. DeBakey
On March 16, 2005 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
along with two cosponsors, Sens. John Cornyn (TX) and William Frist
(TN),
introduced
S. 641 to
award the Congressional Gold Medal to renowned cardiologist
Dr. Michael E. DeBakey. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) also introduced
the bill in the House.
Born September 7, 1908 in Louisiana, at
the age of 23 and still a medical student DeBakey reported a major
invention, a roller pump for blood transfusions, which later became
a major component
of the heart-lung machine used in the first successful open-heart
operation.
During WWII he joined the Surgeon
General's staff, rising to the rank of Colonel and Chief of the Surgical
Consultants Division. His recommendations for the proper staged management
of war wounds led to the development of mobile army surgical hospitals
or MASH units, and earned DeBakey the Legion of Merit in 1945.
Joining the Baylor University College of Medicine
in 1948, five years later he performed the first successful procedures
to treat patients who suffered aneurysms leading to severe strokes,
and he later developed a series of innovative surgical techniques
for the treatment of aneurysms.
Then in 1964, DeBakey performed the first successful
coronary bypass. Two years later, he made medical history again when
he was the first
to successfully use a partial artificial heart to solve the problems
of a patient who could not be weaned from a heart-lung machine following
open-heart surgery. In 1968 he supervised the first successful
multi-organ transplant, in which a heart, both kidneys, and lung were
transplanted from a single donor into four separate recipients.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction
by President Lyndon B. Johnson and
President
Ronald Reagan conferred on him the National Medal of Science.
Today, DeBakey works with NASA engineers, refining
existing technology to create the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device,
one-tenth
the size of current versions, which may eliminate the need for heart
transplantation in some patients.
Return to top
Michael D. Griffin Nominated for NASA Administrator
President Bush nominated Michael D. Griffin to be the administrator
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Griffin is
currently the Space Department Head of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory.
Prior to that he was president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, Inc.
In a written statement, House Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)
praised Griffin’s nomination.
"We are extremely pleased that the President has nominated Mike Griffin
to be NASA Administrator" Boehlert said in the statement. "Dr. Griffin
has long been a resource to the Science Committee, both as a public witness
and in providing private counsel. He has broad expertise, knows NASA inside
and out, and is an imaginative and creative thinker and leader. He is also
known for his candor and directness. We look very forward to working with Dr.
Griffin at this critical time for NASA."
Griffin has a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering and five master's
degrees: aerospace science, electrical engineering, applied physics, civil
engineering and business administration. Return to top
Bill Setting Up Single Food Safety
Agency to be Revealed April 6
Long-time advocates of a single federal food safety
agency Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will
introduce legislation
April 6 to create such an agency, reports indicate. The bill would
create out of 12 separate federal agencies with food safety responsibility
a single independent agency. The new bill will differ from last year’s
version in response to concerns from industry and consumer groups.
Return to top
New Bills
A number of new bills have been introduced. Click
here to send a request for a copy of the text or more information about
the bill.
S.604
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) introduced a bill to expand Medicare coverage
of medical nutrition therapy services.
S.628
A bill proposed by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) would increase planning
and funding for Department of Health and Human Services health
promotion programs. Additional funding is also provided for the Centers
for
Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health. S.634
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) offered legislation to allow payment
terms for sales of agricultural commodities and products to Cuba. S.641
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bill Frist (R-TN)
offered a bill to award a congressional gold medal to Michael Ellis
DeBakey, M.D.
S.658
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and 28 co-sponsors offered a bill to prohibit
human cloning.
H.CON.RES.97
A resolution offered by Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) would express the sense
of the Congress that safe and effective radioprotectant drugs should
be procured and stockpiled by the federal government as soon as possible.
H.R.1291
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced a bill to require the Secretaries
of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Homeland Security to carry
out activities toward bringing to market effective medical countermeasures
to radiation from a nuclear or radiological attack.
H.R.1297
A bill offered by Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) would amend the National Vaccine
Injury Compensation Program.
H.R.1351
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) offered a bill to encourage owners and operators
of privately held farm, ranch, and forest land to voluntarily make
their land available for access by the public.
H.R.1357
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) and 103 co-sponsors offered a bill to prohibit human
cloning.
H.R.1375
Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) offered a bill to award a congressional
gold medal to Michael Ellis DeBakey, M.D.
H.R.1382
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced legislation to provide for a one-year
delay in the implementation of the voluntary prescription drug benefit
program, and to provide for a one-year extension of the Medicare
prescription drug discount card and transitional assistance program
and of the coverage of prescription drugs under the Medicaid Program.
Return to top
Inside
Track is produced as a service to clients of Policy Directions,
Inc., a Washington, DC-based government relations/strategic government
communications firm founded in 1995, specializing in customized
advocacy on health care; food; biomedical research; biotechnology,
human drug, and medical device regulation; federal nutrition policy
and programs; and environmental policies and programs. For more
information about PDI, please e-mail info@poldir.com.
All material © 2005 Policy Directions.
|
