Resources for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

FDA gets more money amid charges of bonus abuses and incompetence

news.medill.northwestern.edu

For the second year in a row legislators have scolded the Food and Drug Administration for doling out most of its bonus money to top managers instead of field inspectors. And for the second year in a row legislators have given the FDA more money.

President Bush signed an Iraq war spending bill into law on Monday that also included an amendment to beef up funding for the FDA after the agency dealt with a June tomato recall. But in a report issued last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee outlined some concerns about the FDA’s employee bonus structure.

According to the committee, “retention” bonuses were created to keep coveted field inspectors, analysts and scientists from ditching the federal government for greener paychecks at private sector posts. But most of the money has ended up in the hands of upper-level management, the panel said.

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