Congressman Cleaver Joins 84 House Democrats in Urging Trump Administration to End the Gag on Public Health Communications and Act Swiftly to Address Worsening Bird Flu Outbreak

(Washington, D.C.) – This week, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), along with Rep. Rosa DeLauro and 83 other House Democrats, called on the Trump Administration to undo their move to restrict federal agencies’ communications and collaboration. In a letter to President Trump, the lawmakers explained how the administration’s gag order has harmed the response to prevent the spread of H5N1, urging the president to allow the resumption of interagency communications and the sharing of critical public health information. 

“Your Administration must act quickly to address this crisis,” the lawmakers wrote. “Viruses will not wait for this Administration to lift its gag order or for agencies to restart their collaboration and information sharing before they spread or mutate. It is clear that these interfering short-sighted actions by your Administration will cause significant harm. This interference must end.”

“We know you would not like to see another deadly pandemic unfold under your watch,” the lawmakers continued. “[T]hus, we await your swift action to completely lift the pause on external communications by public health agencies, commit to cross-agency collaboration on H5N1, and work to get every necessary state enrolled in the National Milk Testing Strategy.”

In the case of H5N1 for example, the United States Department of Agriculture monitors cattle and poultry, the Food and Drug Administration monitors milk, and the CDC monitors human virus cases. To limit spread and prevent human infections, it is important that these agencies are allowed to collaborate and share data. Failure to do so risks worsening an already devastating outbreak that has already affected nearly 1,000 dairy herds across 16 states, over 162 million poultry, and over 12,000 wild birds and infected 70 people, with one associated death. We cannot allow a weak federal response to risk the virus to continue mutating and spreading, which would lead to a much more threating risk to the public.

The official letter from lawmakers is available here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.