In a letter, Klobuchar, Grassley, and 13 other senators pressed leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that a key USDA program to help respond to the spread of avian flu is a very high priority and receives necessary funding 

Avian flu has so far impacted 3.9 million birds on 72 farms across 19 counties in Minnesota alone; while it poses minimal risk to human health, the disease has serious implications for poultry producers

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today led a bipartisan group of senators pushing for crucial funding to help address the outbreak of avian flu in Minnesota and across the country. In a letter, Klobuchar, Grassley, and 13 other senators pressed leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)—which is responsible for helping respond to the spread of avian flu—is a very high priority and receives necessary funding. Avian flu has so far impacted 3.9 million birds on 72 farms across 19 counties in Minnesota alone. While it poses minimal risk to human health, the disease has serious implications for poultry producers.

“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 Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tom Carper (D-DE), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Al Franken (D-MN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), John Hoeven (R-ND), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Mark Warner (D-VA).

Klobuchar has held multiple meetings in recent weeks with Minnesota turkey growers, as well as with state and federal officials, to discuss the importance of a coordinated response to the avian flu. She has been in repeated touch with Secretary Vilsack to urge the USDA to ensure that needed resources are available to quickly contain the disease, and she sent a letter encouraging Vilsack to continue working with state and local agencies and stakeholders while ensuring all available measures and resources are available to help address the spread of the virus. The letter also encouraged the USDA to distribute indemnity payments to turkey growers experiencing losses in a timely fashion.  

Grassley last week sent a letter to USDA 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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