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USDA fired officials working on bird flu, now trying to rehire them

An Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are "working to swiftly rectify the situation."

"Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson noted that several agency positions were already exempted from the sweeping cuts President Donald Trump's administration is making across the federal government, adding that the Agriculture Department "continues to prioritize the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza." In recent days, the Trump administration has fired probationary employees across the government — a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of people, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.

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