Appropriators aren’t pulling their punches on Covid-19 response 

It’s appropriations season! Typically, it’s the time of year when lawmakers and their staff use their power over the government’s budget to take on political pet projects (think opposition to genetically engineered salmon and soy milk). But this year, things are different: Democratic appropriators used their so-called “reports” to rail against the Trump administration’s Covid-19 response and saddle federal agencies with a slew of new requirements. Here are a few that stood out to STAT:

• The WHO. Appropriators want the CDC to continue working with the World Health Organization, despite the Trump administration’s formal planned withdrawal. “The Committee urges CDC to continue to engage with the WHO to address global health issues, including COVID–19, and to continue to use its resources to support essential WHO global health activities,” they wrote. 
• Assessing agency failures. The appropriators railed on the FDA’s repeated fumbles in approving accurate Covid-19 tests, and now they want the FDA to conduct an independent audit of its Covid-19 response. “The true tragedy will exist if FDA does not learn from its mistakes as it moves forward,” they wrote, explaining the requirement.
  
  They also slammed the Strategic National Stockpile; they want weekly reports on inventory levels for items like ventilators and masks going forward.
  
  In a seeming rebuke of BARDA, they also urged HHS to work with the Department of Defense “to implement a dedicated medical countermeasures program focused on developing medical countermeasures in months, not years, for previously unknown epidemic pathogens.” They want an update on this new initiative next year. 
• The drug supply chain. Appropriators are renewing calls for the federal government to decrease its dependence on China and India for the country’s drug supply. They’re asking the FDA to write a report outlining supply chain “vulnerabilities,” including a list of all finished drugs and active ingredients “where supply is dependent on a single or limited number of providing countries.” They want a separate report from the HHS secretary “on methods to increase our domestic medical manufacturing capacity and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.”