Federal Legislative Developments & Updates

By Dr. Mark Lutschaunig, Director of the GRD

This has been an interesting month in our nation's capitol. Over the past two weeks, Congress has spent most of its time on the financial bailout package. Once the House and Senate complete work on the legislation, they will recess... probably for the rest of the year. And all leftover legislation will die and need to be reintroduced next year in the 111th Congress.

Lobbying can be a bit frustrating. We worked very hard to pass the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act (VPHWEA), which will provide competitive grants to the veterinary schools to increase the number of graduates. Unfortunately, the bill never made it out of committee, despite having a subcommittee hearing on this important topic. But that's politics! It often takes 5-10 years to pass a bill, and we are only in our third year with VPHWEA. The good news is that we had 97 cosponsors in the House, and 30 cosponsors in the Senate, which shows that many Members of Congress supported this legislation. We'll take what we have learned, tweak the legislation and reintroduce it in the 111th Congress.

Congress never completed all of the appropriations bills, which provide funding for the federal government. In order to keep the government running, they passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will provide funding through next March. When Congress passes a CR, it usually means that the government is funded for that period at the same level as the previous year. This places programs like FARAD and NVMSA in a difficult position. While NVMSA will probably receive the same level of funding ($875,000), FARAD will receive nothing since it received no federal funding in 2008.

FARAD is in trouble – it started shutting down this month. Despite tremendous efforts to find a long-term funding solution, Congress and the executive branch did not provide any funding, and FARAD is out of money. We will continue to work with the stakeholders to find a funding solution, but it will be very difficult.

NVMSA has received $1.875M to date and should receive at least $875,000 in FY09. We were disappointed that Congress did not get to the appropriations bills, as the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee put $5M in their FY09 bill, and the House Agriculture Appropriations Committee put $1M in their FY09 bill. We are very encouraged with the amounts, as it shows that Congress recognizes the importance of the loan repayment program. Fortunately, the USDA has started writing the rules for the program and hopes to have the process completed by next May. Stay tuned to the AVMA Advocate for NVMSA updates.

We were very pleased that the Animal Drug User Fee Act reauthorization was passed in August. This bill expedites the approval process for drugs that veterinarians need to treat their patients. During the past five years, the FDA has approved drugs to treat respiratory disease in cattle and pigs, manage obesity in dogs, manage osteoarthritis in dogs and horses, manage heart failure and separation anxiety in dogs, treat fleas in dogs, and manage obesity in dogs to name a few.

These are just a few of the issues that we have been dealing with over the past two years. Overall, I am pleased with the profession's progress and look forward to pursuing our legislative agenda in the 111th Congress.

For more information, contact Dr. Mark Lutschaunig at mlutschaunig@avma.org.