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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees commended ongoing congressional efforts to boost the fiscal year 2009 budget of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so that the agency is better prepared to accomplish its mission of maintaining the public health.

The latest attempt was a recent letter from a bipartisan group of senators to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee urging its members to approve increased funding for the agency’s major food safety programs next fiscal year. This money would include a significant funding hike for the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) which inspects domestic and imported food and drug products. Earlier this year, the Senate approved a 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.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said the letter emphasized the senators’ commitment to providing the FDA with the resources it needs to fulfill its role of protecting the wellbeing of every American.

“The Senate is on record as being alarmed about the significant risks that poor FDA funding pose to the integrity of the nation’s food, drug and cosmetic supply,” she said. “With consumer advocacy groups and the agency’s own employees and science board against administration efforts to shortchange the agency, this letter shows that the Senate will not turn a deaf ear to the nation’s public health needs.”

The letter, signed by 19 senators including Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), expressed concerns about inadequate agency resources that they said were crippling the FDA’s ability to perform its mission. They urged subcommittee members to consider the agency’s importance when determining funding for FY 2009. “The FDA’s budgets have not adequately reflected the critical role (the agency) plays in our nation’s food safety system or its increasing responsibilities,” the letter reads.

Last year, NTEU led the charge to block agency efforts to reorganize and downsize its food and drug safety operations, highlighting that there was no real evidence that the effort would help the agency become more efficient or productive. Several members of Congress also objected to the plans and the approval of the FY 2008 omnibus appropriations bill late last year included NTEU-supported language prohibiting the FDA from closing seven of the agency’s 13 regional field labs.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including more than 5,200 in the FDA.