In his second month in office, Sen. Dave McCormick is looking to tackle the scourges of avian influenza and fentanyl trafficking.
With avian influenza having infected several farms in Pennsylvania, McCormick said he has talked with state poultry leaders from PennAg Industries Association, as well as national figures such as Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a long-serving ag-attuned lawmaker.
“I wanted to get my hands around what the federal government needs to be doing,” said McCormick, R-Pa., in a Feb. 5 interview.
McCormick also plans to cooperate with other legislative leaders from Pennsylvania, including Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Rep. Glenn Thompson, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
“This transcends party,” McCormick said. “This is something we need to work on together.”
McCormick is still in fact-finding mode about the current federal response, but one step he plans to take is voting to confirm Ag Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins. The Texas policy expert has said avian flu will be one of her first priorities at USDA.
“So far it looks like the response that’s needed is there, but I want to keep monitoring that carefully,” McCormick said.
McCormick also wants to learn more about the possibility of using vaccines to reduce the risk of the disease spreading. He acknowledged it’s a fraught topic, as vaccination may lead trading partners to block American poultry products.
McCormick thinks it’s too early to know how President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs will affect Pennsylvania farmers.
But it’s notable to him that Trump’s levies on China, and delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, are intended in part to combat fentanyl smuggling into the U.S.
China supplies precursor chemicals to make the potent drug, and Mexican cartels are shifting operations north because of pressure on the U.S. southern border, McCormick said.
The U.S. lost 100,000 people to drug overdoses last year, including 4,000 in Pennsylvania.
“I was glad to see that both Mexico and Canada appeared to respond in a way that they were taking the fentanyl problem very, very seriously,” McCormick said.
The Republican took office in January after defeating incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
In a nod to dairy farmers, one of the first bills he co-sponsored was a plan to restore whole milk to schools. Casey had previously co-sponsored that bill, but only did so late in the 2024 campaign.