In a recent appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation, former Trump administration official Kevin Hassett, who served as the Director of the National Economic Council, criticized the Biden Administration’s approach to combating avian flu, claiming that its strategy of mass culling chickens is a key factor behind the rising cost of eggs.
Hassett argued that the Biden Administration’s decision to “randomly” kill chickens in response to the outbreak of avian flu was not only ineffective but contributed directly to the soaring prices and scarcity of eggs. He shared his perspective during an in-depth conversation with CBS host Margaret Brennan, offering both his personal observations and policy insights.
“Biden’s Plan Was to Just… Kill Chickens”
Hassett wasted no time in expressing his frustration with the current administration’s handling of the avian flu crisis. He explained that the Biden Administration’s strategy of culling chickens within a set perimeter where sick birds were found only worsened the situation.
“The Biden plan was to just… kill chickens,” Hassett remarked, adding that billions of dollars had been spent on this method, which he described as “random” and ineffective. He noted that chickens, in many cases, were culled even if they weren’t directly affected by the flu, a move he claimed exacerbated the crisis.
The former economic advisor continued by emphasizing how the approach failed to address the root cause of the problem. “They spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens within a perimeter where they found a sick chicken,” he explained. According to Hassett, the result was not just a loss of poultry but a significant disruption to the egg supply, which led to the increase in egg prices seen across the country.
Hassett’s Grocery Store Insight
Drawing from his own recent experiences, Hassett highlighted the real-world impact of the egg price surge. He recounted a visit to his local grocery store where he observed the ongoing shortage. “I shop for our family, in part because I love to look at prices,” he said. “And there were no eggs at the store yesterday, just a few.”
This firsthand experience reinforced his belief that the Biden Administration’s chicken-culling strategy was a major factor behind the egg shortage. Hassett pointed to the fact that eggs were still hard to find despite efforts to curb the spread of avian flu, implying that these efforts were ineffective in halting the disease while also damaging the poultry industry.
A Call for Smarter Biosecurity Measures
Turning his attention to potential solutions, Hassett suggested that more sophisticated biosecurity measures and smarter containment strategies could help address the problem without resorting to widespread culling. He explained that rather than killing chickens within a large perimeter, authorities should focus on more targeted approaches, such as medication and enhanced security protocols, to contain the virus.
“What we need to do is have better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on, to make sure that the perimeter doesn’t have to kill the chickens,” Hassett argued. “Have a better, smarter perimeter.”
He further explained that the Trump Administration had been working on these more advanced strategies with input from the best scientists in the government, which, in his view, could have prevented the current crisis if implemented earlier. “That’s the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago,” he remarked, implying that had these measures been adopted sooner, egg prices would be significantly lower.
