Groups Oppose Cuts to Federal Advisory Committees

Dozens of groups call for President Donald Trump to rescind an executive order that they say would arbitrarily eliminate essential advice to inform government decision-making.

House Science Chair Questions Plan to Reduce Advisory Committees

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson calls on science agencies to provide information about their strategy for implementing the executive order eliminating one third of federal advisory committees.

The role Of citizen advisory boards during times Of fiscal stress

When added together, there are currently 1000 federal advisory committees with over 60,000 participants. In one U.S. city of more than one million people there are over 700 citizens serving on advisory boards. Yet, this form of citizen participation receives scant attention in the public administration literature (Lavertu & Weimer, 2010). We use the foil of the 2008 recession to reduce the gap in our knowledge. Advisory boards offer the potential for giving citizens power since they provide direct input into decision-making. Results from interviews of 25 citizen advisory board members suggest this does occur. However, the way in which the board leverages its power is novel. The experiences of citizen advisory board members can inform attempts to increase the legitimacy of participation, especially during fiscal stress.

An Overview of the National Quality Strategy: Where Do Nurses Fit?

The definition of quality healthcare, its accurate measurement, and its effective management is nebulous and constantly evolving. Even the most respected and knowledgeable experts cannot come to consensus on exactly what quality means. Levels of measurement, as well as questions of whom, how, and when to measure are topics of continual deliberation. These discussions occur at multiple levels through councils, committees, workgroups, task forces, and expert panels. Many policy-related decisions these groups make affect nurses and nursing care. All of them affect how patients receive or engage in healthcare. This article discusses the National Quality Strategy by offering a description and history of the quality conversation, including federal advisory committees and quality measurement data standards. There are several gaps in the quality conversation to which nurses could contribute valuable insights. The authors describe ways that nurses can engage in the national quality agenda. The article concludes with a call to action to encourage nurses to take a larger role in driving the National Quality Strategy.

Dead People Don’t Eat: Food Governmentenomics and Conflicts-of-Interest in the USDA and FDA

Conflicts of interest permeate the governance of the federal advisory committees that issue recommendations to consumer protection agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and therefore, American consumers need a federal solution to protect their health from biased recommendations. In order to promote a business-friendly food pyramid, agribusinesses and food industrialists lobby for dietary guidelines that boost their sales. The resulting guidelines cause great damage to public health, spur environmental pollution, and result in a loss of democratic freedoms. As a result, the FDA and USDA's bifurcated task of protecting both food producers and consumers, creates a conflict of interest within the agencies that often favor the food industry over consumer protection.This paper describes the problems embedded within the FDA and USDA's conflict of interest and the resulting revolving door of the heavily invested lobbyists, and finally, suggests statutory amendments to solve this problem. The proposed amendments will dispense with ineffective disclosure requirements and eliminate the possibility of waiving conflicts of interest for advisory committee members. By rebalancing the composition of the advisory committees and the scientific basis for the dietary recommendations, the proposed amendments will close the loopholes that large food industrialists currently abuse. As a result, consumer protection agencies, such as the FDA and USDA, are empowered to police the federal advisory committees issuing the dietary recommendations and prevent government officials from breaching their fiduciary duties to American consumers.