Citing a recent spike in pharmaceutical recalls, Sen. Michael Bennet on Tuesday introduced legislation to bolster consumer protections governing the nation's drug supply. 

The Colorado Democrat says his proposal — which would greatly expand the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) enforcement powers while holding drug companies more accountable for the products they sell — is vital in a globalized age when more and more drug ingredients originate overseas.

"For too long, the FDA has lacked the proper authority to adequately safeguard our drug supply," Bennet said Tuesday in a phone call announcing the legislation. "Americans need to be able to trust that the drugs in their medicine cabinets are safe, no matter where they're made."

The legislation arrives the same day the Pew Prescription Project released poll results revealing that 89 percent of Americans support congressional action to bolster the nation's drug safety protections. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents indicated they "strongly support" such action.

The drug lobby isn't so certain.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday awarded $42 million to 133 community-based organizations to support HIV prevention.

The awards specifically target at-risk groups including African-Americans, Latinos, gay and bisexual men, and injection drug users, according to the CDC. The nation's first-ever national strategy for combating HIV and AIDS, unveiled last month, calls for more targeted investments to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS among at-risk groups in which the infection rate has reached epidemic levels.

"This funding is a critical part of CDC’s national HIV prevention efforts and is in line with the priorities identified in the recently released National HIV/AIDS Strategy," CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Director Jonathan Mermin said in a statement. "Governments on the federal and state levels cannot end this epidemic alone, and these resources will help to give many communities the tools they need to fight HIV locally."

The average award is about $323,000 per year for five years, according to the CDC. Funds will be used to implement HIV prevention programs for individuals living with HIV and those at high risk of infection; to increase HIV testing and knowledge of infection status in at-risk communities; and to assist in monitoring program effects and behavioral outcomes.

The Department of Labor has announced it is withdrawing a proposed regulation allowing state and local governments to mandate that businesses provide healthcare for their employees or pay into a government health program.

The regulation was being developed prior to passage of the healthcare reform law, the department says, and the new law may negate the need for it.

"With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the department has decided to review whether and to what extent further regulation in this area is necessary or appropriate in light of a national health care reform program," the department said in a statement. "The department will be requesting OMB to return the proposed regulation to the department for further review and consideration."

The regulation would have authorized programs such as San Francisco's ordinance requiring employers to pay a tax to support a city-administered health benefits plan if the employer did not provide employee health coverage, according to the industry group America's Health Insurance Plans.

AHIP and a coalition of employers spelled out their opposition to the regulation in an earlier letter urging the Office of Management and Budget to reject it as incompatible with the healthcare reform law and the federal statute that regulates employer-sponsored health plans.

The Republican Policy Committee on Tuesday morning sent out a memo to staffers highlighting the major changes in the Senate bill that extends enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states for six months.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tabled the initial bill Monday afternoon after it received a bad score from the Congressional Budget Office. Reid then filed for cloture on the new bill, which contains the same $16.1 billion, phased-down Medicaid enhancement as the original bill; a vote is expected Wednesday.

The major changes include:

- Paring back the enhanced food stamp benefits provided under the recovery act one year earlier than previously expected, starting March 31, 2014, instead of 2015;

- Eliminating the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which allows individuals to receive a portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit in their paychecks. This means workers would no longer be able to receive an advance payment of their expected EITC through their employer;

- Establishing new rules for electing a foreign tax credit in certain situations involving the acquisition of covered assets;

- Eliminating $238 million in offsets coming from the Navy;

- Eliminating $300 million in offsets from the Rural Utilities Service Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband Program;

- Eliminating $361.8 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, infants and children.

CBO SINKS MEDICAID BILL (FOR NOW)

A note to state legislators holding their breath for additional Medicaid funds: Don't come up for air just yet. 

Senate Democrats on Monday were forced to table legislation providing states with six additional months of emergency Medicaid funding after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) determined that the cost of the larger $26 billion package — including $10 billion for state education programs — wasn't fully offset.

Democrats had scaled back the Medicaid provision, from $24 billion to $16.1 billion, by phasing out the boost in the federal share over the first half of 2011. The current 6.2 percent increase in Medicaid's federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) — passed as part of last year's stimulus bill — expires at the end of 2010. The Democrats' plan would provide a 3.2 percent FMAP bump in the first quarter of 2011, and a 1.2 percent hike in the second quarter. 

Senate leaders expect to vote for cloture on a revised (i.e., fully paid-for) proposal on Wednesday. 

It says Democrats' healthcare reform will save Medicare hundreds of billions of dollars and extend the program over a decade.

The Senate on Monday effectively postponed legislation providing more than $16.1 billion next year to state Medicaid programs.

The vote to table the bill was 95 to 0. 

The Medicaid provision, part of a $26 billion proposal designed to help states weather a tough economy, ran into trouble Monday when the Congressional Budget Office estimated the package would add $5 billion to the budget deficit.

Democratic leaders say they'll tweak their proposal to pay the entire tab. A vote on the revised bill is expected as early as Wednesday. 

The groups are protesting the growing waiting list for government-subsidized AIDS drugs, saying 13 patients have died while on it.

Children's hospitals and other medical centers on Monday became eligible to enroll in a Medicaid program that offers discounted drugs, as called for in the healthcare reform law.

As many as 1,500 additional hospitals — including children’s hospitals, free-standing cancer centers, critical access hospitals, rural referral centers and sole community hospitals — are now eligible for the 340B program, which provides discounts on brand-name drugs to facilities that serve poor people. Factoring in clinics and health centers, the number of sites participating in the 340B program will rise from more than 14,000 to nearly 20,000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS estimates the facilities will be able to save an average of 20 percent to 50 percent of the cost for covered drugs thanks to the program.

The drug industry agreed to the expansion during the healthcare reform debate but beat back proposals to expand the discount to inpatient drugs, which are delivered at the hospital. The discount only applies to outpatient drugs.

Entities that have completed the registration process will be added as their eligibility is confirmed, according to HHS. The registration process will require at least three days of processing time. 

All required documents need to be submitted by September 27. The rolling, online admission process ends Sept. 30.