One Day in Iraq

If, as many say, a core problem at the Food and Drug Administration is its reliance on industry user fees to fund basic operations, then the following fact may be useful for lawmakers in the House who will consider changes to the just-passed Senate bill:

The money the FDA collects from industry to run its operations is about equal to one day's spending on the War in Iraq.

The FDA will collect under $400 million from industry this year, and in exchange is held to strict controls on how it can spend that money (not too much on safety) and how long it can take to review new drug applications (not too long).

The U.S. has spent in excess of $500 billion since the war in Iraq started four years ago. The latest supplemental appropriations bill for the war includes $84 billion to prolong the U.S. occupation of that beleaguered country for another six months. That's about $410 million a day.