Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey is asking the governor and legislators for more money to prepare a statewide plan for responding to a major animal disease outbreak. Lawmakers set aside 100-thousand dollars this past spring for the effort, but Northey is recommending the state spend another 150-thousand dollars.
The state’s poultry industry was hit a couple of years ago by a bird flu outbreak. Northey says after his department got the 100-thousand dollar budget in July, it has started drafting a response plan for another outbreak of avian influenza or some other animal disease.
There hasn’t been an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the U.S. since 1929. Northey spoke in the governor’s office as he presented his budget plan for the Iowa Department of Agriculture. Northey’s been nominated for a job in the U-S-D-A, but the U.S. Senate hasn’t voted to confirm him for the job. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is blocking the vote on Northey’s nomination in protest over the E-P-A’s pro-ethanol moves.
