MPL legislation not included in FY 2023 omnibus spending bill

• By: AHPA
• On: 12/20/2022 13:59:31
• In: Regulation / Legislation

December 20, 2022

Today, Congress released the FY 2023 omnibus spending bill, which is formally called the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (H.R. 2617). Notably, the $1.7 trillion bill—which will fund the federal government through September 2023—did not include provisions establishing a mandatory product listing (MPL) requirement for dietary supplements marketed in the United States. The House and Senate are expected to pass H.R. 2617 this week with President Biden signing the measure into law no later than Friday, December 23.

The exclusion of MPL provisions comes within weeks of the American Herbal Products Association's (AHPA's) letter to the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives committees with oversight over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in which the association requested that MPL language be excluded from any must-pass appropriations legislation considered during the last weeks of the 117th Congress. The decision to shelve MPL legislation in the current Congress also followed a December 7 floor speech in which Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) made his final appeal to his Senate colleagues to include MPL legislation in the omnibus bill.

A longtime proponent of establishing a legal requirement for dietary supplements to be listed with the FDA, Durbin introduced the Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2022 with Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) in April and has reportedly vowed to continue to push for MPL legislation in the next Congress, which will convene in January 2023.

AHPA has been actively engaged with legislative discussions on MPL for years and will continue to represent the diverse perspectives of AHPA's membership in future discussions. These efforts, among others, are part of AHPA's continued advocacy for modern dietary supplement regulations that will provide greater consumer access to truthful information and a more equitable and transparent path to market for new dietary ingredients.