CQ
June 18, 2012
By Emily Ethridge
House and Senate leaders announced a bipartisan deal Monday on a five-year reauthorization of the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee programs, hoping the chambers will clear the negotiated agreement by the end of the month.
The House is expected to vote on the new text, added as an amendment to the Senate measure (S 3187), under suspension of the rules this week. That will require a two-thirds majority for passage, something the House easily achieved with its original legislation (HR 5651) in May.
“I hope that the House and Senate will act to approve it soon, so we can send it to the president for his signature without delay,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee…