Budget

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, in a cabinet exit memo, said there's a need for the next administration to hike FDA's funding, stressing a need to improve regulatory science, stem antibiotic resistance and create a “robust” agency that could help improve competition in the pharmaceutical marketplace and in turn enable safe and affordable drugs.

Republican Rep. Tom Price (GA), tapped to serve as HHS secretary in the incoming administration, is pushing for two-year budget cycles, a repeal of pay-as-you-go and a required notice and comment process on all significant guidance documents in a draft rewrite of the congressional budget process.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced that if elected she would call on Vice President Joe Biden to continue his work on “Project Moonshot,” and urge Congress to approve funding for the initiative.

The House Appropriations Labor-HHS subcommittee on Thursday (July 7) will consider a $161.6 billion draft appropriations bill that includes $73.2 billion for HHS but cuts prior-year mandatory funds for the Affordable Care Act and freezes new discretionary spending used to run the law.

Beneficiary advocates are upset by the Senate appropriators' move to eliminate Medicare State Health Insurance Assistance Program funding in the fiscal 2017 HHS spending bill they passed June 9, and one advocate is urging the House not to follow suit.

Senators may offer provisions of the Senate's version of the 21st Century Cures Act to the National Defense Authorization Act and the agriculture appropriations bill, a congressional aide told Inside Health Policy.

A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved an HHS spending plan Tuesday (June 7) that gives the National Institutes of Health a $2 billion bump, increases funds to fight the opioid epidemic, eliminates funding for the Independent Payment Advisory Board and would fund the Affordable Care Act at 2016 levels.

Stakeholders point to the detection of bacteria resistant to a last-resort drug as a reason to accelerate government efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance through increased surveillance and development of new antibiotics. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) urges passage of his bill to accelerate approval of antibiotics for a limited population, and the HHS says the discovery is a reason for lawmakers to move forward with increased funding for efforts to combat antibiotic resistance.

The House is expected to take up a bill this week sponsored by Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers (R-KY) that would provide $622.1 million in funding to combat the Zika virus, which falls far short of President Obama's $1.9 billion emergency supplemental request.