The Bush administration asked Congress on Monday for an additional $275 million in the next year’s budget of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The money will be used to help improve the safety of food and drug imports, which represent more than $2 trillion each year.

The budget the White House initially requested for the FDA was of $2.4 billion for the 2009 fiscal year, meaning a 5.7 percent more than the last year’s budget.

During a conference call on Monday, U.S. Health Secretary Michael Leavitt said “this additional funding will allow FDA to more rapidly take the steps necessary to meet the challenges of changing global markets and to better protect the American people,” Reuters reports.

The proposal follows criticism the FDA is still facing after not dealing properly with the blood thinner heparin and other products, which made many victims among Americans.

The money will help the FDA to expand its workforce by 490 additional staffers and to conduct at least 1,000 more foreign inspections of food and medical products facilities and an additional 1,000 domestic inspections. Also, the FDA could increase technical assistance to countries that export to the U.S. and to modernize the FDA’s information technology systems.

“For the health of the American people, we need Congress to act on these common-sense proposals,” Leavitt said.

FDA commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach added that the products regulated by the agency are vital to the “welfare” of every single American.

If the White House’s request approved, the FDA’s fiscal year 2009 budget would be 18 percent higher than this year’s