Federal poultry bailout: Who pays when bird flu shuts farms down?

What it does

This bill amends federal animal health law to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compensate poultry farmers whose flocks are prohibited from being grown or raised during disease control areas (typically during avian flu outbreaks). Compensation is calculated as the average income from the farmer's five most recent flocks, multiplied by the number of flocks they were prevented from raising, minus any state or other compensation already received. Payments must be made within 60 days of request.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to establish a federal compensation program for poultry producers during disease-control quarantines. It is a targeted relief measure, not a broad subsidy or deregulation, and operates within existing animal health law.

What the text implies

• Compensation is capped at the difference between calculated loss and any state/other compensation, creating potential gaps if state programs are generous or if actual losses exceed the five-flock average formula.
• The bill does not address whether 60-day payment timelines are feasible during large-scale outbreaks affecting many farms simultaneously, potentially creating cash-flow crises for smaller operations.
• No provision addresses whether the five-flock average adequately reflects losses for new or seasonal operations, or farms with volatile income patterns.
• The mechanism may incentivize underreporting of state compensation to maximize federal payments, creating potential fraud risk and administrative burden.

Who it affects

The bill provides financial relief to poultry farmers facing income loss due to government-mandated disease control measures, which is a legitimate public health necessity. However, the compensation mechanism may be incomplete—it does not address broader supply-chain disruption, consumer price impacts during shortages, or whether compensation levels adequately reflect actual losses. The public bears the cost of compensation while disease risk remains a shared concern.

Who stands to gain

• poultry producers and integrators
• large-scale poultry farming operations
• vertically integrated poultry companies

Named in the bill

USDA, APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), Animal Health Protection Act, poultry growers and layers, control areas, avian influenza (implied disease context)

Where it stands

17 cosponsors: 9 Republicans, 8 Democrats.

• Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $245,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Roger Wicker, the sponsor, reported $116,200 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Avadel Pharmaceuticals, Plc — $120,000 on 2 filings
• National Turkey Federation — $105,000 on 2 filings
• Association of California Egg Farmers — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.