White House proposes 30% cut to FDA headcount, reorganization

The Trump administration this week submitted a proposal that would cut the budget and staff at the FDA, as well as reorganizing the agency to remove food regulation from its purview, according to a new Endpoints News report.

The proposal would cut $1.3 billion in resources from the agency and 5,000 members of its staff and leave the agency to oversee only drugs, devices, biologics, tobacco, dietary supplements and cosmetics, according to the report.

The agency would also adopt a new moniker: the Federal Drug Administration, Endpoints reports.

The reorganization is a single part of a larger plan from the White House which includes a number of reforms for the Department of Health and Human Services based on issues President Trump outlined last year in an executive order. The plan claims it aims to reduce “duplication and redundancy” and to improve “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch,” according to the report.

Regulation of foodstuffs would shift – along with 5,000 FDA employees – to the USDA, under a new group that would be called the “Federal Food Safety Agency.” The cut would affect approximately 28.6% of the FDA’s 17,468 staff members, according to Endpoints.

The FDA would be required to contribute $1.3 billion in budget dollars for the plan, while the USDA would only be required to provide $1 billion.

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