Kaptur Pushes for Critical Steps to Improve Avian Flu Readiness

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) directed efforts in the House Appropriations committee today to improve federal readiness and support for states combating the spread of Avian Flu.

Rep. Kaptur successfully added a provision as part of the full committee markup of the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2016 that directs the USDA Secretary “to provide, not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of the bill… a report on the amount of emergency funds that are transferred from the [Credit Commodity Corporation] to poultry owners and contract growers, respectively, to address outbreaks of [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.]” This language would help ensure that independent poultry farmers receive appropriate financial support if they experiences losses related to the spread of Avian Flu.

Rep. Kaptur also called on committee leaders to restore previous support levels for critical staff at Animal Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS). Budget cuts have led to the elimination of 225 veterinarians and other animal health staff that could have been deployed for testing and responding to animal diseases like Avian Influenza (AI).

“These are [cuts to] the very services that are most necessary right now with this horrendous Avian Flu epidemic that is sweeping the country,” said Rep. Kaptur. “Ohio is one of the largest egg producing states in the country. [This outbreak] hasn’t hit us yet but it’s coming our way. We know the outbreak has affected more than 48 million birds… This is massive. In some states, they can’t even figure out how to eradicate that many birds, how to bury them, how to sweep the houses, how to clean the houses, and we really are short in this budget. I would ask that… [we] take a look at how we can restore these employees to their APHIS functions to help us deal with this plague of the Avian Flu.”

APHIS deals with diagnosis of domestic and foreign animal diseases, support of disease control and eradication control programs, reagents for diagnostic testing and animal disease lab work. The USDA has already eradicated 7.5 million turkeys, three percent of U.S. annual production, and 42 million chicken and young hens, 10 percent of the entire U.S. egg-laying population, in an effort to contain this most recent outbreak.

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