GOP unveils cuts to nutrition, food safety

Only part of the
FDA’s funding comes from Congress. It also collects fees from the drug
and medical device industries, which pay the agency to review new
products for approval. With those fees included, the total FDA budget
next year would be $3.7 billion.

A coalition of industry and
consumer groups fought during the last years of the Bush administration
to significantly increase FDA spending, following a high-profile series
of food and drug contaminations.

The Appropriations Committee
noted that the proposed cut to the FDA is smaller than the total cut
across all programs funded under the same spending bill.

In
total, the $17.2 billion bill contains $2.6 billion in cuts from current
funding, or $5 billion less than President Obama had requested for next
year.

“For our part, the Agriculture Subcommittee has sought to
begin making some of the tough choices necessary to right the ship. We
have taken spending to below pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels while
ensuring USDA, FDA, CFTC and other agencies are provided the necessary
resources to fulfill their duties,” said Agriculture Subcommittee
Chairman Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).

Other major cuts include $354
million from agriculture research, $338 million from rural development
and $486 million from international assistance.