Maurice Hinchey: “My amendment cuts $500,000 from the office of the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and adds that money…”

“My amendment cuts $500,000 from the office of the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and adds that money to the FDA's Center For Drug Evaluation and Research. It is my intention that the funds should be cut from the FDA's Office of General Counsel, which is housed in the Commissioner's office, and that those funds be added to the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communication, which is located in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The mission of the Food and Drug Administration is to ensure that the public is protected from unsafe food, drugs and medical products. The FDA's Chief Counsel, however, has taken the agency in a radical new direction, and in doing so has wasted taxpayer money on pursuits that are undermining FDA's basic mission. For the first time in history, FDA's Chief Counsel is actively soliciting private industrial company lawyers to bring him cases in which FDA can intervene in support of drug and medical device manufacturers.”