Donald Trump’s administration is struggling to rehire avian flu experts who were fired in the Elon Musk-led federal worker purge, seeking to combat skyrocketing egg prices.
Officials at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are facing challenges as they attempt to convince crucial employees to return to their jobs, while Trump and Musk continue to tout the government job cuts, according to Politico.
The purge eliminated about 25 percent of staff at a key office overseeing research into halting the spread of avian flu, including inspectors and scientists.
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Now, in more than a dozen states, the flu is spreading beyond birds to dairy cows. Egg prices have doubled since the outbreak began, with a dozen costing over $12 in some places. The USDA projects that prices will climb 40 percent this year. Last month, the prediction was 20 percent.
Denny’s and Waffle House have even added egg surcharges to their menus.
With Easter fast approaching, the Trump administration is taking notice of the crisis. It announced a billion-dollar plan to fight the avian flu.
However, the effort to rehire the fired workers is an uphill battle.
“I don’t know if people are going to want to come back,” an anonymous USDA employee told Politico. “Now there’s this perception that federal jobs are not secure. I think they permanently damaged these services.”
Managers at the department have been ordered to offer a justification for every rehired employee. Some brought back this week still don’t have access to work laptops, Politico reported.
Some of the workers who have accepted the offer to return have already received emails from the Trump administration urging the “deferred resignation” plan.
“Rather than measure twice and cut once, it’s more like everyone is on the chopping block and then, ‘Oh s--- we cut the wrong people,’” a different USDA worker told Politico.
Depending on how many workers USDA is able to hire back, the department could be left understaffed as it attempts to roll out its plan to fight the disease’s spread.
