FDA requests $7.2 billion from Biden’s 2025 fiscal year budget

On March 11, 2024, the United States FDA issued a press release announcing its request for $7.2 billion from the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget, increasing its FY 2023 request by 7.4% or $495 million.

If approved, the budget will be used to fund multiple efforts from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. The FDA has highlighted multiple areas the funding will be used to support, including the following:

• Enhancing food safety
• Shortages and supply chains
• Modernization efforts and mission support
• Infrastructure, buildings, and facilities

Approximately $15 million will be allocated to help bolster the US food supply and enrich it with safe and nutritious foods. The FDA is responsible for monitoring and tracking foodborne illness, and this funding will contribute to investigations into the root causes of foodborne illness outbreaks. According to the organization, enhancing nutrition and the availability of healthy foods will reduce the public health burden of diet-related chronic diseases.

Another $12.3 million will bolster the domestic supply chain through an agency-wide initiative to build resilience and quickly respond to shortages.

Many of the requested finances will be allocated to bolster modernization efforts and mission support. For example, $114.8 million will go to the public health employee workforce, $8 million will be used to implement the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, $2 million is for supporting general agency modernization activities, $8.3 million will be used to modernize data infrastructure, and $1 million will be used to expand foreign offices and imported product oversight.

Finally, the FDA highlights that $43.6 million of the budget is allocated to helping FDA offices and labs function correctly.

“The FDA continues to protect the health and well-being of millions of people,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, MD, in the press release. “This new funding request will help us build on our accomplishments and also modernize our agency and operations as we plan for the future. Our request for critical investments will help us address our most urgent priorities, strengthen our public health capacity, advance IT capabilities, and improve agency-wide infrastructure. The budget will also support the FDA’s ability to prepare for, build resilience to, and respond to shortages, support the implementation of expanded cosmetics regulation, and protect and promote a safe, nutritious U.S. food supply.”