WASHINGTON – The head of the Food and Drug Administration alerted the agency's employees yesterday that 2,000 of them could get layoff notices as early as next week if Congress fails to renew user fees for drugs and medical devices.
FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach sent an agency-wide memo to staff at the end of the workday. He said he was confident that lawmakers would renew user fees that help fund the agency's work, but he also wanted them to know that a consequence of not renewing the fees would be a reduction-in-force notice. The layoffs would take effect 60 days after issuance of such a notice.
“All parties fully understand the importance of meeting the September 21st deadline because no one underestimates or fails to appreciate the disruption and demoralizing impact that even the threat of a RIF is having on you and your families,” von Eschenbach wrote.
Both chambers of Congress have passed legislation that renews through 2012 a program that has the drug industry pay fees to the agency to defray the cost of reviewing new medicines.
The House and Senate are trying to resolve the differences between their respective bills.
Associated Press
Shaheen makes run
for Senate official
CONCORD, N.H. – Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has been leading the polls for next year's Senate race. Yesterday, she announced that she's actually running.
Shaheen's long-anticipated announcement raised Democratic hopes of expanding their Senate presence and put pressure on three other Democrats to drop out of the race for Sen. John Sununu's seat. None had, as of yesterday afternoon.
If she wins the Democratic nod, Shaheen is expected to face Sununu, a first-term Republican who beat her out for the seat in 2002.
Shaheen lost to Sununu by 5 percentage points in 2002, but the political landscape has changed dramatically, mainly because of dwindling public support for the war in Iraq.
Associated Press
Drag racer files for
Chapter 7 status
JACKSON, Tenn. – A drag racer being sued for millions of dollars after his car plowed into a parade crowd, killing six people and injuring dozens more, has filed for bankruptcy protection, records show.
Troy Critchley of Wylie, Texas, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection a week ago and claimed as creditors a dozen pending lawsuits totaling about $100 million, according to The Jackson Sun.
Filing for Chapter 7 prevents most efforts to collect a debt from the person filing. That could make it difficult for victims' families to pursue their claims against Critchley, some of which ask for as much as $20 million.
The suits, more than 30, stem from the June 16 accident in Selmer, about 36 miles southeast of Jackson, when Critchley's race car crashed into a crowd at the Cars for Kids charity event.
Associated Press
President to sign
disclosure bill
WASHINGTON – President Bush signed a bill yesterday that will require lawmakers to disclose more about their efforts to fund pet projects and raise money from lobbyists, a measure that backers call the biggest ethics reform in decades.
The new law will require lawmakers seeking targeted spending projects, or earmarks, to divulge their plans in advance. Lawmakers and political committees must identify lobbyists who raise $15,000 or more for them within a six-month period by bundling campaign donations from many people.
Associated Press
