What Does Daschle Pick Say About FDA Tobacco Regulation?

Wed, November 19, 2008 - 3:38 PM

Tobacco policy watchers should pay attention to the leaks today that President-elect Barack Obama has tapped former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to serve as Health and Human Services secretary.

He will run a department that will oversee the Food and Drug Administration. While in the Senate in 2004, Daschle voted to give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products. And a former top staffer of his, Bill Corr, is executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that has been pushing for years to give FDA oversight of cigarettes.

Last week, Obama’s transition team named Corr to a group of health policy experts who will review HHS activities to make sure the next secretary can begin working immediately.

FDA oversight legislation has been kicking around Congress for years, but always failed to pass both chambers. This year, it passed the House, but stalled in the Senate.

Supporters say they expect it to come up again early next year and pass, but opponents say those predictions are too optimistic.

A key difference in 2009: the likely backing of the administration. President George W. Bush opposed the move, and his implied veto threat was a significant roadblock to passage.

Obama was a co-sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. And with his appointments of Daschle as HHS secretary and Corr to the transition team, he’s put into key positions people who share his views. Does this mean FDA tobacco oversight will pass next year?

Perhaps, but it’s far from guaranteed. One possible roadblock that remains is money. The budget is expected to be extremely tight next year, and opponents say adding tobacco oversight to FDA’s portfolio will keep it from carrying out its core mission.

Update (11/20 - 12:00 p.m.)

As several tobacco control advocates have pointed out to me, the proposed legislation would impose user fees on tobacco companies to pay for the expansion of FDA oversight. But some critics of the proposal have questioned whether the funding mechanism would cover all regulation costs.

--Sean Mussenden