House Democrats are investigating Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts regarding the bird flu outbreak.
In a Tuesday letter, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Emily Randall (D-WA), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-VA) wrote to Kennedy inquiring about recent comments he made about the outbreak. The members of Congress argued that Kennedy’s recent comments appeared “to minimize the health and economic threat” that the bird flu poses.
The outbreak has infected 70 Americans, killing one in Louisiana. The disease has wrought havoc on chickens, killing 168 million birds since 2022, with even more killed through culling.
In the letter, the representatives said they were “troubled” by Kennedy’s comment suggesting the “possibility of letting [avian flu] run through the flock so that we can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it.”
“Allowing avian flu to ravage flocks across the country is dangerous and reckless and is an approach unsupported by scientists, public health officials, and veterinarians,” the letter says. “This ‘strategy’ also coincides with the emergence of a new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9, which surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi earlier this month and led to the deaths of 46,000 birds.”
They also expressed concern over Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins’s apparent approval of the plan.
“There are some farmers out there who are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity,” she was quoted saying.
The House Democrats said the RFK Jr. plan “contradicts the prevention plans previously announced by other federal agencies under the Trump administration, including USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Coordination between relevant federal agencies is critical in addressing the rapid spread of avian flu.”
They said the disconnect indicated a lack of coordination within the Trump administration, jeopardizing the response to the spread of bird flu. The Democrats requested relevant documents and communications between the different agencies regarding the outbreak and “any non-governmental experts consulted by HHS related to the federal response to avian flu, such as public health officials, epidemiologists, scientists, veterinarians, etc.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IMPORTS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF EGGS AS PRICES DROP SIGNIFICANTLY
The avian flu was a central factor in the skyrocketing egg prices last year and early this year. From January 2021 to January 2025, egg prices rose 237%, from $1.47 to $4.95 per dozen.
Rollins unveiled a billion-dollar plan to cut egg prices on Feb. 26, which included compensating farmers and developing vaccines. One pillar of her plan was the mass importation of eggs until chicken populations were restored. Last month, she announced the importation of hundreds of millions of eggs from Turkey and South Korea. Egg prices have already dropped more than 50% in the last month.