Number: RL34334
Title: The Food and Drug Administration: Budget and Statutory History, FY1980-FY2007
Authors: Judith A. Johnson, Donna V. Porter, Susan Thaul, and Erin D. Williams, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: In order to inform the ongoing discussion about FDA, this report presents FDA's appropriations history and traces the evolution of the agency's statutory responsibility. It first provides a 28-year budget history for the agency along with personnel levels as shown by the number of full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). This report found that direct congressional inflation-adjusted appropriations (budget authority) to FDA doubled, and that the contribution of other funds, mostly user fees, increased more than 12-fold, resulting in an overall budget in FY2007 almost 2½ times that in FY1980. Between FY1980 and FY2006, the latest year with final FTE data, the agency's FTE level increased 19% overall, from a less than 1% increase in budget authority-funded FTEs and an almost fourfold increase in FTEs funded by other sources (mostly user fees). The report also provides a more detailed examination of the budget and personnel levels for each of FDA's major activity areas: Foods, Human Drugs, Biologics, Animal Drugs and Feeds, and Devices and Radiological Health. Findings include the relationship of user fees to budget authority, declining funding of research, and summaries of the major laws enacted since FY1980.
Pages: 65
Date: January 29, 2008