BREAKING: After Gauntlet of Setbacks, Senate Passes Amended User Fee Bill

BREAKING UPDATE: In a 96-1 vote, the US Senate has passed the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The bill will now wait to be merged with the House of Representatives' version of the same legislation. Politico has more on this piece of breaking news.

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After multiple days of political wrangling and an unexpectedly large number of amendments, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act(FDASIA) is finally scheduled to be voted on during a Thursday, 24 May session of the US Senate.

The vote had originally been scheduled for Wednesday, but was repeatedly pushed back in the face of dozens of amendments being offered by various Senators-some of which were entirely unrelated to the legislation.

After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened to table the bill entirely if amendments were not withdrawn, the list of 39 proposed amendments was eventually whittled down to just 11.

Those amendments and their general topics are as follows:

• Bingaman #2111 (generic filings)
• McCain #2107 (Would allot the reimportation of drugs)
• Sanders #2109 (criminal fraud/exclusivity)
• Murkowski #2108 (genetically engineered salmon)
• Portman #2146 (Synthetic drugs - controlled substances)
• Portman #2145 (Rx drug monitoring);
• Reed #2126 (Sunscreen testing/labeling)
• Coburn #2131 (Drug Application Review Process)
• Durbin #2127 (dietary supplements)
• Paul #2143 (supplements)
• Burr #2130 (Would allow Congress to sit in on User Fee negotiations between FDA and Industry)

The bill is set to be voted on at 2:00 pm on 24 May, with an agreement in place to suspend all debate at that time.

The Hill reports some of the more controversial provisions of the bill, including a proposal by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to attach a National Flood Insurance reauthorization bill and a proposal by various senators to kill an impending excise tax on medical devices, have been removed in the interest of keeping the bill as un-controversial as possible.

Read more:

Senate Floor Schedule for Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Hill - Reid says Senate is waiting on Republicans on FDA amendments