Klobuchar, Grassley Lead Bipartisan Group of Senators Pushing for High Prioritization of Avian Flu Outbreak

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley today led a bipartisan group of senators pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the avian flu outbreak receives the highest prioritization for the department.  In a letter, Klobuchar, Grassley, and 13 other senators pressed leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service —which is responsible for helping state governments respond to the spread of avian flu—is a very high priority and receives necessary funding. Avian flu has so far impacted more than 20 million birds across 11 counties in Iowa.

 
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local agencies, has responded quickly to the avian influenza outbreak,” the senators wrote. “Given the recent unforeseen increase in confirmed avian influenza cases and their rapid spread throughout the country since the President’s FY 2016 budget request was released, we urge the Subcommittee or the Committee to make funding for the APHIS avian health program a very high priority in order to continue these critical avian influenza response measures in the next fiscal year.”
 
In addition to Klobuchar and Grassley, the letter was signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin, Michael Bennet, Sherrod Brown, Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Chris Coons, Joe Donnelly, Al Franken, Heidi Heitkamp, John Hoeven, Johnny Isakson, Tim Kaine, and Mark Warner.
 
Grassley last week sent a letter to Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, with the rest of the Iowa congressional delegation, urging him to provide any assistance possible under its statutory authority to help affected states combat the recent avian flu outbreak. Grassley's office has been fielding calls from concerned Iowa growers about the flu and the impact on their flocks.

The full text of the senators’ letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee is below:

Dear Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Merkley:

As you prepare the FY 2016 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, we request robust funding to proactively address the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak.
 
The first case of HPAI in the United States since 2004 was confirmed in December 2014. Since that time, HPAI has been detected in wild birds, as well as backyard and commercial flocks, in 18 states across the country. Although the virus poses minimal risk to human health, it has serious implications for U.S. poultry producers and is extremely infectious and fatal to poultry. Commercial poultry flocks across the country have been depopulated to control the spread of the virus, resulting in the loss of millions of birds to date.
 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local agencies, has responded quickly to the avian influenza outbreak. The APHIS avian health program is responsible for avian influenza surveillance, reporting, and control efforts, as well as distributing indemnity payments to affected poultry producers. In recent weeks the number of confirmed HPAI cases has increased rapidly, and APHIS has ramped up its action in response, using significant resources to do so.
 
The President’s original budget request for the APHIS avian health program was $52 million for FY 2016, which is equal to the FY 2014 and FY 2015 enacted levels. Given the recent unforeseen increase in confirmed avian influenza cases and their rapid spread throughout the country since the President’s FY 2016 budget request was released, we urge the Subcommittee or the Committee to make funding for the APHIS avian health program a very high priority in order to continue these critical avian influenza response measures in the next fiscal year. Thank you for your consideration of our request.
 
Sincerely,
 
 

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