FDA Chief Writes Congress for Money

WASHINGTON — After being pummeled for weeks on Capitol Hill over the president’s budget, Food and Drug Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach has written Congress that the agency needs an immediate infusion of $275 million to ensure that imported foods, drugs and medical devices are safe.

The request was made in a letter to Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, that offers a detailed spending plan for such things as opening new foreign offices, increasing inspections and constructing new databases to track drug hazards.

Presidential appointees rarely diverge so forcefully from the president’s own spending plans, or at least avoid doing so in writing. Dr. von Eschenbach’s action surprised agency observers and was taken as perhaps a sign of the president’s waning influence in the closing months of his presidency.

“In 30 years at the agency, I never saw anything like this happen before,” said William Hubbard, a former deputy FDA commissioner.

On May 1, Mr. Specter wrote Dr. von Eschenbach a letter asking the commissioner to detail how much the agency needed “to protect the public’s health.” In a handwritten aside in the letter’s margin, Mr. Specter wrote, “Andy, I know the situation is extreme. I want to get you financial help now.”

In a May 5 response, Dr. von Eschenbach wrote that he was providing his budget request “without regard to the competing priorities that the agency, the president, and their advisors must consider as budget submissions to the Congress are developed.”

Read the full New York Times story here.