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The Rush to Judgment Begins

Folks who work in DC and are paid to bother Congress know that in an election year — especially a presidential election year — major legislation pretty much gets shelved about four or five months before election. This way, candidates for reelection don’t have to try and explain the unpopular or unintelligent actions of the body politic.

This unofficial, but pretty strict deadline means that major “must-pass” bills — as well as those which will play well with the public during campaigning — must be passed early. Thus, we turn to the 2008 Farm Bill and the push to do some kind of food safety legislation.

Most of the major players on the Farm Bill have at least agreed to how much money can be spent on the “big bill,” and generally, how that money will parceled out. However, there’s still no agreement yet on those programs that will be cut or killed or reinvented to pay for the new and/or expanded endeavors, so the jury is still out.

April 18 is the next Farm Bill deadline — that’s when the most recent short-term extension of the 2002 Farm Bill expires. This week’s “deal,” if you can call it that, takes baby steps toward perhaps/maybe/possibly getting a new Farm Bill, but the race to the finish line will be nigh on impossible to reach by April 18.
This means another short extension of current law, maybe to May 1 or just beyond. Both House leadership and the White House have said “no” to another extension, so to get the extra time, those same negotiating farm bill honchos are going to have to sign in blood that they can produce a bill by the next deadline.

Then there’s the White House and its very serious, oft-repeated threat to veto an overly expensive bill or one that seeks to pay for new spending through tax increases. Some Democrats would welcome a vetoed Farm Bill because it would give them one more issue with which to beat on the GOP running up to November.

All the noise on food safety and FDA reform is also about to yield new legislation in both the House and Senate. Rep. John Dingell (D, MI), chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, was delivered a new draft of his bill to impose import certification, testing, fees, and on and on, and other members of his committee started getting briefed on the new bill today.

On the Senate side, Sen. Richard Durbin (D, IL), the Senate workhorse of FDA reform, has floated a draft bill to various interested parties, and it looks as though he’ll introduce a bill in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D, MA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, is struggling with his own version of a reform bill.

What will be interesting to see is how far the food safety push actually goes. Most agree getting a comprehensive domestic/international, food/feed/drug/device reform bill through both chambers, conference committee and to the President’s desk — in a form he’ll sign — is likely impossible.

So, will the drafters look to do international/import reform for all regulated products first? Or will they decide to do only domestic/international reform on human drugs and devices first? No one is saying right now, but my guess is the effort this spring and summer will be a targeted bill, the heavy lifting being saved until the next Congress and the next White House.

And then there’s the likelihood of Congress returning after election for a lame duck session…but I’m not even going there today because it gives me a headache just to think about it.