House and Senate Republican leaders want to delay a defense bill to try to reach a compromise on a provision that would give the Pentagon authority to approve certain drugs and devices instead of the Food and Drug Administration.
Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon urged the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act be changed. A conference committee is considering the bill.
Burr is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Walden heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The lawmakers are worried that the provision could “jeopardize the FDA’s rigorous and science-based process to ensure the availability of safe treatments and therapies, which may ultimately create more harm than good for those who have risked their lives to defend our nation.”
They say the White House is also concerned about the provision.
“In the spirit of these good-faith negotiations, we ask House and Senate leadership to delay signing of the NDAA conference report to allow us to reach a compromise that puts the safety of our warfighters first,” the statement said.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday he is willing to work with the Pentagon to make a compromise that includes hastening approval of products that would be used by the military.
