Darrell Issa

Issa Announces Hearings, Will Probe Fannie, Freddie, FDA, WikiLeaks

Ryan J. Reilly | January 3, 2011, 12:52PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

After making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows yesterday, incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa today laid out his agenda for the next session of Congress and oversight of the Obama administration.

Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella told TPM that the hearing list so far would focus on these six topics: the impact of regulation on job creation; Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's roles in the foreclosure crisis; the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the failure to identify the origins of the financial crisis; how to combat corruption in Afghanistan; Wikileaks; and issues of food and drug safety at the FDA. Issa also announced the lineup this morning on his Twitter account. Bardella also emphasized that there was a difference between holding a hearing on a topic and launching an investigation.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Are The FDA's Safe Seafood Standards Based On The Wrong Numbers?

Rachel Slajda | December 16, 2010, 8:43AM

NOAA officials sort fish gathered from an area affected by the Deep Horizon oil spill.

Even as the Obama administration tries to encourage folks to eat more Gulf of Mexico seafood, health advocates on the Gulf Coast are calling into question the method federal agencies use to determine the food is safe.

The Federal Drug Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies use an average level of seafood consumption to determine what level of pollutants would make a Gulf shrimp or oyster unsafe. Both agencies have declared Gulf seafood safe, as long as its taken from non-restricted areas.

But, according to a report released this month by the environmental non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, the numbers the FDA uses for average consumption are far, far below the amount of seafood that the average Gulf Coast resident eats.

According to the NRDC's survey, Gulf Coast residents eat between four and 12 times as much as the national average.

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FDA

FDA Proposes Graphic New Cigarette Warnings

Eric Lach | November 10, 2010, 2:08PM

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing new warnings to appear on cigarette packages and advertisements, and has released the text and images of the new warnings on its website.

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Health Care

Asked About Charge Of Meddling, Gibbs Says FDA Drug Imports Stand Hasn't Changed

Justin Elliott | December 22, 2009, 1:32PM

Robert Gibbs and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Asked about a Dem senator's accusation that the White House pressured the FDA to send a letter that helped kill a drug importation measure, Robert Gibbs did not directly address the charge, but maintained that the FDA has had safety concerns for years.

After his drug imports amendment was defeated last week, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) asserted that an FDA letter raising safety concerns about the measure may have originated in the White House.

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Health Care

Did White House Pressure FDA To Help Kill Measure To Make Drugs Cheaper?

Justin Elliott | December 18, 2009, 3:08PM

President Barack Obama and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) (inset)

After the Food and Drug Administration fired off a letter that helped kill a measure fiercely opposed by the drug industry, one Democratic senator is accusing the Obama White House of using the FDA -- which is supposed to offer apolitical opinions -- as a bludgeon.

The drug importation amendment to the health reform bill, which would have saved the government and consumers billions of dollars by allowing prescription purchases from Canada and elsewhere, was killed in the Senate late Tuesday with an assist from the FDA letter. The 51-48 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed.

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