House to vote on final FDA bill Wednesday

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a must-pass Food and Drug Administration bill after House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Monday on the legislation.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) office said the FDA bill is slated to come to the House floor Wednesday under special rules that require a two-thirds majority for passage. A Senate leadership aide said the upper chamber will likely take up the final bill next week.

The measure has broad bipartisan support in both chambers: The House passed an earlier version by a 387-5 vote, and a Senate version passed 96-1.

A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers announced Monday evening that they had reached an agreement to reconcile their two bills. 

"I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their bipartisanship throughout this process," Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in a statement. "Because of their outstanding work, we have an agreement that is a win for patients, American innovation and jobs.”

Congress has until Oct. 1 to reauthorize user fees that the FDA collects from drug and medical device companies, and the user fee bill also includes a series of changes to agency policy.

Lawmakers have worked consistently to wrap up the FDA bill well ahead of the fall deadline, in part to insulate the bill from the political fallout surrounding the Supreme Court's ruling on the Obama administration's healthcare law. That decision may come by the end of next week.

The pharmaceutical industry also praised the agreement. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) said the bill would "directly benefit patients and support continued biopharmaceutical innovation" in the United States.

The bill will reduce the deficit by $311 billion over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

— This post was updated at 4:39 p.m. to add the CBO score.

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