The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner said at a meeting I attended that if the “sledgehammer of sequestration” takes effect FDA would suffer significant loss of critical personnel.  

Sequestration is the term for the automatic spending cuts required because Congress in 2011 could not reach agreement on trimming the federal budget. The cuts are set to be implemented over the next nine years.  

Asked in a Q&A session at the FDA's Science Board Meeting Oct. 4 about the effects of the "budget cliff” on FDA, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said, "Most of what we do is unique and essential and has profound and cascading impacts on the health of the health care system and the economy. If we don't do these things, no one will. Policymakers should be mindful of that. We are hopeful that we can avoid the sledgehammer of sequestration. Its impact would be profound.”  

Hamburg continued, “Our work is done by our people. We don't buy expensive equipment whose delivery we can delay for a while. Cuts from sequestration will result in the loss of critical personnel. We are making contingency plans as we speak."  

According to a report released Sept. 14 by the White House's Office of Management and Budget, appropriated defense funding, which comprises all but a small portion of defense spending, would be cut by 9.4 percent. The nondefense cut would total 8.2 percent for discretionary spending and 7.6 percent for mandatory spending accounts covered by the sequestration.The report said FDA funding would be cut by $318 million under the sequester, which would target FDA salaries and expenses.