House votes to fund FDA during shutdown
October 08, 2013 | 03:18 PM
The House late Monday passed a bill to fund the Food and Drug Administration during the shutdown, but the measure has little likelihood of seeing action in the Senate.
The vote was 235 to 162, with 20 Democrats joining the Republicans in voting for it, one Republican voting against it and 34 House members not voting.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., noted that the bill would be the ninth that the House would send to the Senate to reopen a small part of the federal government. Rogers said he supported the bill, but would have preferred a regular Agriculture appropriations bill.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a strong food safety advocate, voted against it.
“This bill does not protect our families from contaminated food,” DeLauro said. “It does not even adequately fund the FDA. It is yet another in a series of purely political bills put forward by this majority.”
The Center for Science in the Public Interest called on Congress to pass a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the entire government rather than pass the FDA bill.
“FDA must be funded, as it plays a vital national role in protecting consumers from contaminated and misbranded food,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson.
“While we appreciate that many in Congress recognize the agency’s importance, we cannot support legislation that takes a piecemeal approach to funding the government and that would make support for FDA a partisan issue,” he said. “In addition, FDA’s growing responsibilities require a funding level higher than that proposed in the legislation.”
The vote was 235 to 162, with 20 Democrats joining the Republicans in voting for it, one Republican voting against it and 34 House members not voting.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., noted that the bill would be the ninth that the House would send to the Senate to reopen a small part of the federal government. Rogers said he supported the bill, but would have preferred a regular Agriculture appropriations bill.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a strong food safety advocate, voted against it.
“This bill does not protect our families from contaminated food,” DeLauro said. “It does not even adequately fund the FDA. It is yet another in a series of purely political bills put forward by this majority.”
The Center for Science in the Public Interest called on Congress to pass a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the entire government rather than pass the FDA bill.
“FDA must be funded, as it plays a vital national role in protecting consumers from contaminated and misbranded food,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson.
“While we appreciate that many in Congress recognize the agency’s importance, we cannot support legislation that takes a piecemeal approach to funding the government and that would make support for FDA a partisan issue,” he said. “In addition, FDA’s growing responsibilities require a funding level higher than that proposed in the legislation.”
