Last Friday, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) joined a group of Democratic lawmakers in a letter to House leadership seeking $75 million in funding for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prevent and prepare for a possible African Swine Fever outbreak in the U.S. swine population.
Axne and six other House Democrats requested that House Leadership include this funding in the next continuing resolution or supplemental appropriations package that moves through Congress.
?A confirmed ASF positive sample in any U.S. state or territory would be devastating to the American pork industry and rural economy,? the members wrote. ?An outbreak in any part of the U.S would restrict pork producers from being able to participate in global trade. America?s pork producers are a crucial part of the food supply chain domestically and they contribute close to seven billion dollars in global exports. Therefore, significant additional investments in APHIS are vital.?
In July, APHIS confirmed the presence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in samples collected from hogs in the Dominican Republic, raising concerns that an outbreak could reach the United States.
The letter was led by Axne, Rep. Angie Craig (MN-02), and Rep. Cheri Bustos (IL-17). The letter was also signed by Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott (GA-13), Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Jim Costa (CA-16), G.K. Butterfield (NC-01), and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07).
?It is critical that USDA has the funds needed to protect the U.S. swine herd from African swine fever,? Jen Sorenson, president of the National Pork Producers Council, said. ?Although ASF isn?t a threat to people, among hogs it?s highly contagious with mortality rates approaching 100 percent. If ASF enters our country and we are unable to control it, hundreds of thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars would be lost. We thank the members of Congress on this letter for their work to protect U.S. pork and call on Congress to act now.”
In 2019, Rep. Axne led the introduction of the Protecting America?s Food and Agriculture Act to hire, train, and deploy new agricultural specialists to prevent ASF from reaching our food supply. The measure was signed into law in March 2020.
