FDA can review drugs during shutdowns, but firms must pay fees after.
H.R. 9635 — Getting Innovations to Patients During Shutdowns Act · Filed by Kevin Mullin (D-CA) · Introduced Jul 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill lets the FDA keep reviewing drugs and devices during shutdowns. Firms do not have to pay fees first. Firms must pay within 7 days after the shutdown ends. If they do not pay, their applications get denied. The FDA still checks that applications are complete and safe.
Who it affects
People waiting for new drugs and devices benefit because the FDA keeps working during shutdowns. Drug and device firms must pay their fees on time or lose their spot.
One thing to notice
Firms must pay fees within 7 days after a shutdown ends. This could be hard for smaller firms with less cash.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- FDA — The Food and Drug Administration, the agency that approves new drugs and devices.
- applications — Formal requests to the FDA to review and approve a new drug or device.
- shutdowns — Periods when the government stops spending money because Congress has not passed a budget.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,887 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“FDA can review drugs during shutdowns, but firms must pay fees after.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9635/simple Report an error