FDA approved a $250,000 Singapore work trip during government shutdown, records show
CNBC ^ | December 15, 2025 | Paige Tortorelli, Scott Zamost, Melissa Lee
Posted on 12/15/2025 2:33:28 PM PST by Twotone
SINGAPORE — Sentosa Island boasts the luxury, five-star Ora and Michael hotels, with palm-tree-lined pools, lobbies flanked with luxury stores, and a casino that adjoins both hotels and buzzes with gamblers. The Singapore resort is also where a group of federal employees from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were sent for a work trip in the final hours of the government shutdown.
Internal FDA records obtained by CNBC show 31 agency staffers traveled to Singapore in mid-November for a conference of the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, or ICH — a trip that cost more than a quarter of a million dollars, or upward of $8,000 per person, according to the documents. The travel was approved when the agency was operating with reduced staffing and limited resources in part due to the shutdown.
snip
The FDA told CNBC the trip did not rely on taxpayer dollars, saying it was funded through the agency’s carryover user fees — money collected from companies that make drugs, devices and other medical products to pay for regulatory work such as product reviews and inspections.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fda; ich; inch; singapore
1 posted on 12/15/2025 2:33:28 PM PST by Twotone
To: Twotone
Power corrupts
Absolute power absolutely corrupts
To: Twotone
31 agency staffers ...
need to be fired.
3 posted on 12/15/2025 2:38:23 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
To: Magnum44
It does seem that absolutely no one in government today - at any level - understands the problem our our debt. They really seem to want us to be Zimbabwe one day.
4 posted on 12/15/2025 2:42:53 PM PST by Twotone ( What's the difference between a politician & a flying pig? The letter "F.")
To: Twotone
The FDA told CNBC the trip did not rely on taxpayer dollars, saying it was funded through the agency’s carryover user fees — money collected from companies that make drugs, devices and other medical products to pay for regulatory work such as product reviews and inspections.
So they think that makes it their personal money to do wuth as they please???
5 posted on 12/15/2025 2:44:16 PM PST by packrat35 (“When discourse ends, violence begins.” – Charlie Kirk, and they killed him anyway)
To: Twotone
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette is the Director of Government Affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, wears dark glasses, and uses a white cane.
There is a message there somewhere...
6 posted on 12/15/2025 2:50:57 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ( "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last messag)
To: Twotone
AS a LIFE LONG ACCOUNTING PERSON-—I WANT TO SEE ACTUAL DETAILS.
I SMELL A RAT.
7 posted on 12/15/2025 2:52:00 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
To: Magnum44
The 31 staffers and also the chain of command at least 2 levels above should all be fired. People need to be made into an example.
8 posted on 12/15/2025 2:53:11 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Democrats seek power through cheating and assassination. They are sociopaths. They just want power.)
To: Twotone
” taxpayer dollars, saying it was funded through the agency’s carryover user fees — money collected from companies that make drugs, devices and other medical products”
which are in turn passed on to the consumer in the form of higher drug prices.
Money for nothing and vacations for free ?
9 posted on 12/15/2025 3:03:18 PM PST by algore
To: Twotone
I’m all for our people being in a harmonious relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.
10 posted on 12/15/2025 3:07:25 PM PST by ComputerGuy
To: Twotone
Sounds like a bribe to me.
11 posted on 12/15/2025 3:16:44 PM PST by Dan Zachary
To: ClearCase_guy
should all be fired...
And criminally prosecuted for theft.
12 posted on 12/15/2025 4:22:53 PM PST by SpaceBar
To: Magnum44
"If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes." Ross Perot.
13 posted on 12/15/2025 7:31:37 PM PST by Kudsman (Chuck Grassley too old to fight? Lead or get out of the way. Kill the blue slip collaboration.)
To: Twotone
Typical government employees...arrogant, insensitive, integrity-free losers grifting at every opportunity.
14 posted on 12/15/2025 7:39:43 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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