Senate-approved $275M FDA funding stalls due to Iraq war debate
The U.S. Senate has approved an extra $275 million for the FDA included in an amendment to H.R. 2642, and has sent the measure to the House as part of a bill to fund the war in Iraq.

The amendment, approved in a 75-22 vote on May 23, will make $275 million available through the end of fiscal 2009.

The FDA’s funding is within one of three measures—the other two concern the Iraq war—that amend HR 2642. Senate and House staffers have said that they cannot predict when the House will begin or end debate on the bill’s separate amendments and vote on the legislation as a whole, according to the FDA.

Further delaying delivery of funds, the original House-approved version of the Senate’s amendment, which the Senate had removed from the bill and replaced with the amendment it passed, does not contain the extra FDA funding, so the Senate and House must agree to the funding in a conference committee.

No date has been set for that meeting, according to the FDA.
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