Earlier this year, The Onion made a hilarious video, which jokingly suggests that FDA officials have been smoking lots of weed. Reporters for the Wall Street Journal health blog might agree with the spoof.

Since the regulatory agency announced on Monday that it may accept as much as $275 million in funding for the upcoming year, the WSJ blog has been rife with criticism: Why was the agency so reluctant to accept more cash for its food and drug safety programs?

In the light of several consumer nightmares this year — including tainted pet food, heparin, tomatoes, and toothpaste — congress has practically begged the agency to accept more money and strengthen its safeguards.

Until this week, FDA officials were unwilling to play ball — sticking to a Bush administration rule not to criticize their own budget.

From the WSJ health blog:

The Bush administration’s Office of Management and Budget instituted a rule–see Section 22 of the snoozily named Circular A-11– forbidding government employees from criticizing or disagreeing with the president’s budget, and saying so to Congress. That’s why the FDA balked, and then daintily nosed towards asking for, but not actually asking for, more money this year.

When Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the Health and Human Services, told the New York Times that he has been urging Congress to give his agency more money, Sen. Arlen Specter was shocked and sent the bureaucrat a nasty note.

What else has the FDA grossly mishandled?