Topic: US News
by MPeriod
Posted 9 months ago
In this article, we explore the ongoing bird flu outbreak and its impact on egg prices, President Trump's reaction, and the proposed plans to combat the situation.
President Donald Trump has attributed skyrocketing egg prices to current bird flu outbreaks while placing blame on former President Joe Biden's policies. In a recent interview, Trump stated:
"There's a flu ... I've had nothing to do with inflation. This was caused by Biden. I had four years of virtually no inflation.”
During an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, Trump's economic adviser Kevin Hassett discussed preparations for a plan to address the avian flu outbreak. Hassett claimed the Biden administration lacked a solid strategy:
"The Biden plan was to just kill chickens... they spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens."
Hassett argued for more effective biosecurity measures rather than a mass cull. He suggested that a focus on ducks and geese, which are the primary carriers of the virus, would yield better results:
"Why does it make any sense to have a perimeter of dead chickens when it's the ducks and the geese that are spreading it?”
The Department of Agriculture mandates the culling of affected flocks to prevent the virus spread. Since 2022, bird losses have surpassed 100 million. Farmers must report outbreaks to receive possible financial assistance.
Hassett raised concerns over stagflation as an effect of Biden’s policies, noting that inflation across various goods, including eggs, was alarmingly high:
"The stagflation created by the policies of President Biden was way worse than we thought."
Recent staffing cuts within the National Animal Health Laboratory Network have raised alarms. These layoffs might hinder the nation's ability to respond to the avian flu outbreaks effectively:
"They’re already underwater... if you take all the probationary staff out, you’ll take out the capacity to do the work.”
As the Trump administration seeks to address the avian flu crisis amidst rising egg prices, the effectiveness of proposed biosecurity measures and laboratory staffing remains critical in the ongoing battle against this outbreak.