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President Obama is seeking $83.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services for a broad range of efforts, from ongoing support of the health-care law to speeding development of medical innovations to safeguarding the nation’s food supply. The budget includes $4.9 billion for the Food and Drug Administration — a nine percent increase over 2015 funding levels. That would include additional resources for the agency to continue to implement the far-reaching Food Safety Modernization Act, signed by President Obama in 2011, which aims to improve the safety of both imported and domestically produced foods. The White House also wants a new, single agency housed at HHS to oversee food safety. (Dennis, 2/2)

Disease doesn’t discriminate by political party. And lawmakers of all stripes seem poised to embrace one of the flashiest proposals in Obama’s budget: a $215 million Precision Medicine Initiative, which aims to harness the power of genetics research to accelerate the development of treatments and cures. ... Look for this proposal to survive and lead to a boost in appropriations for the National Institutes of Health. And while we’re talking health: The president may also find bipartisan support for his proposal to invest $100 million to combat abuse of prescription opioids and heroin. (Simon, 2/2)

The White House's 2016 budget proposal takes aim at prescription drug abuse with a variety of new measures designed to lower the number of Americans killed by opioid overdoses. The budget, released Monday, would increase funding for programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, and other agencies to fight prescription drug abuse. (Viebeck, 2/2)