KLAS: Nevada’s Cortez Masto slams Trump administration cuts amid bird flu response

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by: David Charns

Posted: Feb 27, 2025 / 02:06 PM PST

Updated: Feb 27, 2025 / 04:56 PM PST

Egg prices could jump 41% this year, USDA says

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto criticized the Trump administration Thursday, saying recent terminations are worsening the federal government’s response to the bird flu outbreak and the rise price of eggs.

The average price nationally for a dozen Grade A eggs totaled $4.95 in January, according to the USDA. Prices at grocery stores across Nevada are much higher. The department warned it expected prices to rise by at least 40% this year.

The bird flu outbreak began in 2022 under former President Joe Biden. Trump assumed office on Jan. 20. Under Biden, food prices increased nearly 26% compounded by pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Cortez Masto called on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to provide her with information about terminations and buy-out offers at the department, including positions in Nevada. She stressed the USDA had a critical role in partnering with state officials to contain the spread of the virus at chicken and dairy farms.

Nevada’s first human case of avian flu was confirmed in early February in a worker at a dairy farm in Churchill County.

“The administration actually fired or let go the individuals that help us address the avian flu problem,” Cortez Masto said. “The way they are going about finding government efficiency and trying to cut the fat in government is really just to burn down the house.”

The senator touted cutting unnecessary spending in fraud but said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done it the wrong way.

“It crazy to me that there’s no thought process in this,” the senator said, highlighting cuts in Nevada including at the Department of Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

With an emphasis on farms tightening their measures to prevent bird flu’s spread, Rollins said Wednesday the USDA will invest another $1 billion on top of the roughly $2 billion it has already spent since the outbreak began in 2022.

Rollins said she believes the USDA has enough staff to respond to bird flu even after all the cuts to the federal workforce at the direction of DOGE.

The administration is in talks to import about 70-100 million eggs from abroad in the coming months, Rollins said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.