John Clifford, the Agriculture Department’s chief veterinary officer, will testify on the government’s response to avian influenza today before the Senate Agriculture Committee and on Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Senate Agriculture Committee hearing will be held today at 3 p.m. in Room 328A of the Russell Senate Office Building. That is a time change from an earlier announcement.

David Swayne, the laboratory director of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Athens, Ga., and an industry panel will also testify before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Clifford will also testify Wednesday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing entitled “Stopping an Avian Influenza Threat to Animal and Public Health.”

That hearing will be held at 10 a.m. in Room SD-342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Other witnesses will be:

• Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and assistant surgeon general, U.S. Public Health Service, Health and Human Services Department.
• Chris Currie, director, Homeland Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
• Jack Gelb Jr., director, Avian Biosciences Center, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Delaware.
• Scott Schneider, owner, Nature Link Farm and president, Wisconsin Poultry and Egg Industries Association, Jefferson, Wis.