Most of us have probably seen reports or heard mumblings about how highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) vaccination programs are at least being discussed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
But how serious are these talks and what is the mood in Washington? Is this even something that is being discussed by the agriculture committees of the House or Senate?
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the congressman who serves my district, Rep. Tracy Mann, R-Kansas, was hosting a telephone town hall meeting. I had on an earlier occasion attended one of these town halls held by Mann, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and it was a productive use of time. I was even able to produce a blog post from that town hall, in which Mann addressed concerns about consolidation in the meat and poultry industries.
So getting Mann’s insight on what he has seen and heard in Washington about avian influenza vaccination should be pretty easy, right?
That wasn’t the case at all.
There was an online option to submit a question in advance, and so I did that. When the call began, I also joined the caller queue, thinking that if the submitted question was answered, I could ask some sort of follow-up.
But my submitted question was never addressed, nor was I called upon to ask a question. He did cover a variety of topics, and although the majority of those discussions were mostly irrelevant to this constituent, they were obviously important to the person who asked about those topics.
Since that time, I have sent two emails to his office with no response to date.
This is disappointing.
Granted, there isn’t a lot of poultry production in Mann’s district, with the largest operation being the Cal-Maine Foods plant near Chase. But, his district has had HPAI infections, with a turkey breeder flock and several upland gamebird operations becoming confirmed HPAI cases.
So this should be important to Mann. And maybe it is, but his non-response makes me think twice.
Mann has said on multiple occasions that he considers it a true honor to represent the Kansas First District, often referred to as the Big First. And in the past, that district has been served with distinction by the likes of Bob Dole, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran.
Since Moran left the House and got elected to the Senate, the two who followed him – Tim Huelskamp and Roger Marshall – were colossal disappointments when compared to the previously mentioned three.
But once Mann got into office, I hoped things would turn around to the way they used to be. There is still hope, and if I do eventually get a response, I'll be sure to share it.
