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Washington, D.C.—A new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plan to fill more than 1,300 mission-critical positions by the end of the fiscal year is a good start, but after years of underfunding, it is not nearly enough to help the agency keep pace with current public health needs, the leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees said today.
National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley welcomed news of the FDA’s hiring initiative, which promises to create 600 new staff positions and backfill more than 700 current vacancies by Oct. 1. But, she said, much more needs to be done to strengthen the agency’s ability to protect and preserve the nation’s health.
“NTEU has been vocal about the need for increased staffing at the FDA for some time, warning that critical staff positions were being left vacant,” said President Kelley.
NTEU and the Alliance for a Stronger FDA successfully lobbied for increased funding for the Fiscal Year 2008 FDA budget, but the NTEU leader said a much greater increase is necessary.
“This new hiring plan is a good start, but recent FDA budgets have not properly captured the agency’s critical role in ensuring the efficacy of our nation’s medical and nutritional safety system,” Kelley said. “Congress, consumer advocacy groups, as well as the agencies’ own employees and Science Board, all are on record as being alarmed about the significant risks that poor FDA funding pose to the integrity of the nation’s food and drug supply.”
This year, NTEU and the Alliance for a Stronger FDA successfully pressed for Senate approval of a recent budget resolution that would increase the agency’s total FY 2009 budget by $375 million above FY 2008 levels—the same increase as has been recommended by the FDA Science Board. This funding would include a significant boost to its Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) which inspects domestic and imported food and drug products.
Last year, NTEU also fought for—and won— language in the FY 2008 omnibus appropriations bill prohibiting the FDA from closing seven of the agency’s 13 regional field labs and moving forward with a much-maligned reorganization effort.