Over the past few weeks, the House Appropriations Committee has advanced the 12 appropriations bills for FY 2025 that are necessary to fund the government next year. Importantly, while these have advanced out of committee, they must be successfully voted on by both the full House and Senate before becoming law. Two of the annual appropriations bills directly impact allergists:
- Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
- Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
Bills
The House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act grants $25.9 billion in discretionary funding for FY 2025, including $6.8 billion for the FDA.
One notable bill provision involves peanut labeling for foods provided to Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program) beneficiaries. Section 772 of the bill would require WIC to include peanut-containing foods into their food packages to promote early introduction of potentially allergenic foods.
The House Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act contains an 11% cut to current funding levels, with a 7% cut to HHS starting Oct. 1. The main section of this bill impacting allergists is its proposal to revamp the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The College has previously published an article outlining this proposal and its potential impact on allergists.
Bill Reports
When the Appropriations Committee releases its 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the government, it also publishes accompanying bill reports. The bill reports have no binding, legal force, but they are important because they elaborate on the committee’s policy interests and goals.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act’s Bill Report contains three main sections of interests to allergists.
- Scientific Review of the WIC Food Package: As included in the Appropriations bill, this section of the report focuses on the importance of including potentially allergenic foods (such as peanuts) in WIC food packages to ensure that recipients are exposed to highly allergenic foods early in life.
- Allergen Testing: The committee expresses concern about the rise in food allergens not currently included on food labels. It urges the FDA to use rulemaking to identify and implement labeling on food packaging for these emerging allergens.
- FASTER Act: The committee calls for stronger enforcement of the FASTER Act, which added sesame to the list of major food allergens, to protect those suffering from sesame allergies. The committee is concerned that some companies are circumventing the intent of the law by exploiting a loophole and intentionally adding sesame to food products to avoid the cost of preventing cross-contamination.
Additionally, the Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act’s Bill Report also includes provisions that impact allergists.
- The report reiterates support for a revamp to NIH as addressed in the actual bill text discussed above.
- The committee demonstrated a clear interest in reforming the use of artificial intelligence in prior authorization within publicly funded health plans. It calls for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report within a year of the appropriations bill being signed into law that examines how the Federal government evaluates related data used to generate prior authorization decisions drawn from AI applications, the extent of human oversight, the accountability measures ensuring quality of care, and privacy safeguards in place.
- The committee recommends that the CDC provide a briefing on the economic burdens of asthma in the United States. The report further recommends that the CDC provide funding to support school-based efforts to address food allergies and reduce potentially fatal anaphylactic reactions.
- The report applauds the work that the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) does to research food allergies and provide food allergy clinical care. The committee has budgeted $12,100,000 for FY 2025, the same as FY 2024.
Future Outlook
Congress must pass either appropriations bills or continuing resolutions (CR) before Oct. 1 to avoid a full or partial government shutdown. Typically, Congress does not pass appropriations bills by this deadline in an election year, instead passing short-term CRs until after the election or into the new year.
ACAAI’s Advocacy Council will continue to closely monitor and advocate for these appropriations packages.
The Advocacy Council – ADVOCATING FOR ALLERGISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS
