The US Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it mistakenly fired “several” agents employees working on the federal response to the H5N1 bird outbreak over the weekend.
The agency said it is currently trying to quickly turn the firing around.
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“We were notified of several positions in favour of (avian flu initiatives) over the weekend, but we are working to quickly correct the situation and cancel those letters. “We’ll do that,” a USDA spokesman said in a statement. “USDA’s frontline position in food safety and inspection services is considered public safety positions and continues to employ the necessary labor to ensure food safety and proper supply to meet the statutory mission. Masu.”
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A spokesperson said that President Donald Trump’s administration has already been exempt from several institutional positions that are exempt from the federal government-wide exemption, and the Agriculture Bureau continues to “prefer the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza.” “It’s,” he added.
The error is the latest in the Trump administration’s attempt to rapidly reduce the size of the government by firing mass firing of federal workers. This is done by technology billionaire Elon Musk and the efficiency of the US government. By people who have no government experience.
On Friday, the administration tried to inform nuclear safety employees who were fired last week that they were currently set to revive, but they struggled to find it because they didn’t have new contact information.
The latest episode comes as the virus destroyed poultry herds and spiked egg prices. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have so far confirmed 68 cases of humans in the United States. On his first day in office, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins convened a panel on avian flu and “reviewed options for a comprehensive strategy to counter it,” the department announced.
Several agencies within the agricultural sector play an outbreak response role, such as agricultural research services and animal and plant health testing services. On Sunday, Politico reported that some of the Trump administration’s layoffs had collided with the National Institutes of Animal Health Network, which is involved in research into avian flu.
The layoffs involve many Republican lawmakers who personally warned the Trump administration that such cuts hampered the government’s response to avian flu and asked them to reconsider.
Lawmakers received little guidance from the administration on recent program cuts and staff termination at USDA. The panel overseeing the USDA offered briefings to its members over the weekend, and tried to make it even more clear to lawmakers.
“They need to be more careful,” said R-Neb, a member of the Agriculture Committee. Rep. Don Bacon told the Doge team NBC News. “There’s an old proverb that says, “Measure twice and then cut once.” Well, they need to measure once and cut twice. Some of these things need them back. I hope they make better decisions ahead of time. ”
The layoffs also involved researchers working on avian flu. Keith Poursen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostics Institute, said firing three employees in the USDA’s National Institutes of Animal Health Network program would hurt efforts to combat the spread of the virus.
“It’s causing a lot of problems,” he said.
Already high egg prices continue to skyrocket as the avian flu spreads. Several committee members who returned to the district this week told NBC News they were listening to members at empty egg prices.
Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee are chaired by Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-PA. raised concerns to his staff. According to sources.
In a statement to NBC News, Thompson expressed broad support for Doge Mission.
“We expect that with Secretary Rollins confirmed, we will be more clear about the status of this review across the USDA mission area,” Thompson said in a statement.
Some Republicans have also complained about reducing programs that will work with poultry farmers to reduce the number of birds around the airport to improve aviation safety. And there is uncertainty about how broader funding across the government will be cut, and new restrictions on funding for National Institutes of Health grants, working to deal with avian flu. It could affect local health authorities
The latest USDA data shows that 151 confirmed flocks were attacked, affecting 23 million birds.
Recently, the Trump administration has fired probation employees across the government. This is a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of people, according to human resources administration data. An agency spokesman said the administration could not provide full details on how many individuals have been fired until Tuesday evening.
Probation status usually applies to those who have been in the federal government for less than two years before full civil service protection begins. However, it also applies to long-time civil servant workers who move to or get promoted to another institution.
The Trump administration cited the issue of “performance” in letters to fired employees, and the issue of “performance” explaining why they were let go, but some of the same employees are strong from their superiors It has received a lot of performance reviews.
