FederalDaily - June 10, 2005

FDA Scrutinized for Conflicts of Interest

Grumblings are coming from both senators and representatives about political influence over the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) advisory panels. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recently wrote a letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford expressing concern about the makeup of the Drug Safety Oversight Board and the fact that the deliberations of the board will be private. The House on June 8 just passed (by 218-210) a measure introduced by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., that prevents the FDA from waiving conflict-of-interest prohibitions for advisory committees. Hinchey said his measure will end the practice of including scientists on advisory panels with ties to the drugs and devices at question.

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Outsourcing Debated by Administration, Unions

Following the release of an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report touting the successes of competitive sourcing, several unions issued argumentative statements. The National Treasury Employees Union said OMB’s figure— an excepted savings of $1.4 billion over the next five years from competitive sourcing—is premature and speculative. The American Federation of Government Employees said the federal government is wasting millions of dollars to review jobs for privatization, only to keep them in-house. The OMB report said the federal government spent approximately $110 million in privatization reviews last year, with more than 90 percent of the jobs remaining in-house. OMB argues that making federal employees go through the process of competing for their work leads them to do the work as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

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NALC Food Drive Breaks Record

The 2005 National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) Food Drive broke records for the amount of food collected—more than 71 million pounds of food. Results were announced on June 7, National Hunger Awareness Day, showing the organization surpassed last year’s record of 70.8 million pounds collected. The NALC Food Drive has received several awards—including two presidential certificates of achievement, a 2003 special appreciation award from America’s Second Harvest Food Bank Network, the 2003 Bon Appétit/Food Network Humanitarian of the Year Award and the 2004 World Hunger Year/Chapin Award. The NALC Food Drive is a one-day food drive the second Saturday in May.

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NTEU Argues Against GPO and WEP

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing on June 9 on what some call “the evil twins,” Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). At the hearing, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said GPO unfairly penalizes recipients of government pensions who are also eligible for Social Security based on a spouse’s work record. It reduces the spousal Social Security benefit by two-thirds of the amount of the government pension. Kelley also said under WEP an employee who is eligible for both Social Security and a pension from work not covered by Social Security—such as under CSRS—is subject to a lower benefit formula when his/her Social Security benefits are calculated.

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