Pallone Requests GAO Review FDA’s Use of User Fee Funds on DOGE Layoffs

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today sent a letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate how the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) funded the 2025 Reductions in Force (RIF) initiated by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and whether user fees were improperly used to cover the costs.

FDA collects user fees from drug, biologic, and medical device companies to help ensure timely review of their products. In exchange, FDA commits to specific hiring and performance benchmarks laid out in user fee agreements. By law, those fees may only be spent on activities specified in statute, which do not include costs stemming from DOGE-driven layoffs, buyouts, and early retirements.

"I am concerned that upheaval to the user fee programs through staffing cuts or any mismanagement of user fee funds will further hasten the movement of investment in medical product development out of the United States," Pallone wrote. "It is critical that Congress understand how FDA is acting as a steward of the funds that industry is paying as part of the user fee agreements."

In a February 2026 meeting with industry, FDA acknowledged that user fee dollars were used for lump-sum leave payouts and severance for staff separated through the RIF.

Pallone notes in the letter that the Department of Health and Human Services reported FDA's workforce had shrunk by 4,550 employees as of April 2026, and that of 3,200 additional scientific reviewers and investigators FDA sought to hire, only 350 had been hired as of May 2026. Pallone also noted that Committee Democratic staff requested information on the cuts and spending directly from FDA but received no response.

As part of the inquiry, Pallone asked GAO to review:

• Staff attrition at FDA since 2025, including how many departed staff were funded by user fees and the impact on review programs;
• The amount of severance and separation costs paid, and the specific funding source for each;
• FDA's justification for using those funds; and
• Whether using user fee dollars for staff separations is a lawful use of those funds.

The user fee programs are set to expire on September 30, 2027, and need to be reauthorized before that deadline.

The full letter is available HERE.

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