1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is suspending a quality-control program for its food-testing laboratories as a result of staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to an internal email now cited in news reports from multiple papers. The current administration has been gutting necessary federal workers at FDA and other congressionally mandated agencies without regard to those agencies’ ability to continue doing the work they are funded and obligated to do. Congress must act to provide the necessary oversight to ensure the agencies it has established to regulate the safety of Americans’ food, medications, supplements, and medical devices are adequately staffed to protect those critical missions. And every other congressionally established agency must be overseen and accountable to Congress in the same manner. Restore the fundamental functions of FDA through a fully staffed, experienced federal workforce.