by Jon Fleetwood, Jon Fleetwood:
Congress has introduced legislation that would formally embed poultry outbreak response authority into federal law, establishing permanent federal infrastructure governing financial payments, biosecurity operations, and intervention mechanisms triggered by disease outbreak declarations affecting chickens and other poultry.
The bill, H.R. 7567, titled the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” was introduced last month by U.S. Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
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Within the new legislation is explicit statutory language requiring federal officials to prepare operational and financial response structures tied to poultry outbreak scenarios.
The bill states:
“the Secretary shall submit… a report on the Department’s preparedness to support livestock producers and poultry growers… in the event of an outbreak of a foreign animal disease.”
By naming poultry growers directly, the legislation would place the U.S. poultry sector inside permanent federal outbreak response planning requirements.
Congress is formally writing poultry outbreak preparedness into federal law at the same time bird flu response programs, surveillance systems, vaccine development efforts, and livestock intervention authorities are being expanded across state, federal, and international levels—ensuring the legal and operational infrastructure is in place before any future poultry disease emergency is declared.
Moreover, Rep. Thompson has received campaign contributions from poultry industry lobbying groups whose member companies are eligible to receive federal indemnity payments when flocks are destroyed during disease outbreaks, as well as from animal vaccine manufacturers and agricultural insurance organizations whose industries supply products and services used in federal outbreak response programs.
This overlap raises conflict-of-interest concerns because the legislation would codify and extend federal outbreak response programs that distribute taxpayer funds and create government-driven markets affecting industries whose lobbying groups and corporations have contributed to Thompson’s campaign.
Federal Payment Systems, Biosecurity Measures, & Flock Elimination Authorities Codified
The legislation specifies that federal outbreak response programs include indemnity payments, direct payments, biosecurity measures, and herd buyout mechanisms.
The bill states federal planning must evaluate programs including:
“catastrophic risk management tools, indemnity, direct payments, biosecurity assistance, and herd buyouts.”
These mechanisms authorize federal payment distribution, biosecurity implementation, and livestock or poultry elimination programs triggered by outbreak events.
By embedding these mechanisms in statute, the bill would maintain permanent federal authority governing outbreak-triggered financial and operational actions affecting poultry producers.
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