WASHINGTON, DC – The Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), today held a markup examining two bipartisan public health bills, and legislation to reauthorize the FDA’s user fee programs.

The subcommittee advanced the following bills: 

• H.R. 1222, the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2017, authored by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), would enhance research and surveillance at the CDC, award grants to further study Congenital Heart Disease, and direct the NIH to report on their ongoing research efforts. H.R. 1222 passed the subcommittee as amended, by voice vote.
   
• H.R. 2410, the Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act of 2017, authored by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), would reauthorize the sickle cell disease prevention and treatment demonstration program. H.R. 2410 passed the subcommittee by voice vote.
   
• H.R. 2430, the FDA Reauthorization Act (FDARA) of 2017, authored by full committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), full committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman Burgess, and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Gene Green (D-TX), would reauthorize FDA’s critical user fee programs, ensuring the agency has the tools they need to deliver safe and effective drugs, devices, and treatments, to patients more swiftly. Four amendments to H.R. 2430 passed by voice. The amendments were offered by: Reps. Joseph P. Kennedy, III (D-MA), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-IN), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), and Susan Brooks (R-IN); Reps. Burgess, Gene Green (D-TX), and Leonard Lance (R-NJ); and Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Bilirakis. H.R. 2430 passed the subcommittee as amended, by voice vote.

“Today’s markup is just the latest step in nearly two years of work by the biopharmaceutical and medical device industry, the Food and Drug Administration, and Congress,” said #SubHealth Chairman Burgess. “It is a bipartisan and bicameral priority to complete this work and reauthorize the user fee programs in a timely manner.”

“Let me be clear: if we do not have this bill to the President’s desk in July, not only will thousands of FDA employees be seeking new employment, but desperately needed treatments and cures will not reach patients,” said full committee Chairman Walden, echoing Chairman Burgess’ comments regarding the importance of FDARA. “We cannot – and will not – stand for that.”

For more information on today’s markup, including a background memo, archived webcast, and text of the legislation, click here.

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