The American Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that, during the weekend, it had accidentally dismissed “several” employees of the agency who work on the federal government Response to the Avian H5N1 influenza epidemic.
The agency said it was now trying to quickly reverse layoffs.
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“Although several support stations (efforts of the bird flu) have been informed of their layoffs during the weekend, we are working to quickly rectify the situation and cancel these letters,” said a spokesperson for ‘Usda in a press release. “The front line security and USDA inspection positions are considered to be public security positions, and we continue to hire the staff necessary to ensure the adequate security and supply of food to fill our statutory mission. “
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The spokesperson noted that several agency positions were already exempt from the scanning of the cuts by the administration of President Donald Trump through the federal government, adding that the Department of Agriculture “continues to prioritize the response to a Very pathogenic avian flu “.
The error is the last of the Trump administration’s attempts to quickly reduce the size of the government by making mass fire of federal workers – an effort which is made by the technological billionaire Elon Musk and the American department of the efficiency of the efficiency of Government, which is strongly endowed by personnel by people who have no experience of the government.
Friday, the administration tried to inform Some nuclear security employees Who were dismissed last week, they should now be reintegrated – but had trouble finding them because they did not have their new contact details.
THE lateST EPisode comes as The virus decimated poultry herds and raised the prices of eggs. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention So far confirmed 68 cases among humans in the United States. During her first day in power, the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, summoned a panel on the influenza of birds and “options examined for a complete strategy to fight it”, ” THE department said in a press release.
Several agencies in the department of agriculture play a role in the response to the epidemic, including the agricultural research service and the animal and vegetable health inspection service. Sunday, Politico reported That some of the Trump administration dismissals hit the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, which is involved in avian flu research.
The layoffs concerned a certain number of republican legislators, who warned the Trump administration in private that such cuts could hinder the response of the Government Birds flu and asked them to reconsider, according to two republican sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
The legislators had received few administration directives on recent program cuts and staff layoffs at the USDA, which, according to sources, frustrated the Republicans in the Chamber’s Agriculture Committee. The panel, which oversees the USDA, provided a briefing to its members during the weekend to try to give more clarity to the legislators.
“They must be more cautious,” said representative Don Bacon, R-Neb., Member of the Agriculture Committee, at NBC News of the Doge team. “There is an old saying:” Measure twice, cut once. Well, they measure once and must cut twice. Some of these things they will have to come back to. I just want them to make a better decision in advance.
The layoffs also concerned researchers working on the bird flu. Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnosis Laboratory, said that the dismissal of three employees of the National USDA Animal Health Laboratory Program would harm efforts to combat the propagation of the virus.
“It creates a lot of problems,” he said.
The prices of the eggs, which were already high, continued to soar as the bird flu has spread. Several members of the committee, who were back in their districts this week, told NBC News that they heard voters at the high heaven of the eggs.
The Republicans of the Chamber’s Agriculture Committee raised their concerns to the President, the representative Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-P-P., And his staff, who worked to relay these concerns to the USDA and obtain more D ‘Information on movements, according to sources.
In a statement to NBC News, Thompson expressed broad support for the Doge mission.
“With secretary Rollins now confirmed, we are providing greater clarity on the status of this examination in the USDA mission areas,” Thompson said in a statement.
Some Republicans have also complained about the cuts to a program that works with poultry farmers to reduce the number of birds around airports to improve airline. And more broadly, there is uncertainty On the way in which generalized financing reductions within the government, as well as new restrictions on the financing of national subsidies of the National Institutes of Health
The latest USDA data show that 151 confirmed herds have been affected, affecting 23 million birds.
In recent days, the Trump administration has dismissed probation employees through the government – a decision that could affect hundreds of thousands of people, according to data from the personnel management office. An agency spokesperson said the administration would not be able to provide all the details on the number of people dismissed before Tuesday evening.
Probation status generally applies to someone who has been working on the federal government for less than two years – before the full public service protections are involved. But it can also apply to the function workers long -standing public who move to another agency or to promote.
The Trump administration cited “performance” Letters problems to licensed employees explaining Why were they released – although some of these same employees received solid notice of performance from their superiors.