Industry Ally Pallone to Chair Health Subcommittee

WASHINGTON—Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) was chosen by his fellow House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats to chair the committee’s powerful Subcommittee on Health, which has sole jurisdiction over Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); the subcommittee oversees public health, biomedical programs, food and drug safety, mental health and research, hospital construction and all health care homeland security-related concerns.

In addition to speaking at the 2006 SupplySide East trade show, Pallone has championed dietary supplements, helping to create a dietary supplement caucus, providing an opposing voice to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and sponsoring key supplement legislation including bills to fund better implementation of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and the recent adverse event reporting (AER) bill.

“This new Congress must address the inadequacies that currently exist in our broken health care system,” Pallone said. “We must explore ways to end the troubling trend of skyrocketing health care costs that make it increasingly difficult for individual consumers and employers to afford insurance.” He said one of his top priorities as chairman will be to focus on issues concerning the health and well-being of the nation’s seniors.