The agriculture secretary, meanwhile, has said that the previous administration “hadn’t really done anything” to combat screwworm, wrongly claiming that there had been “no funds” secured and “no plan deployed.” The Biden administration approved nearly $275 million in emergency funding to fight screwworm starting in late 2023.
Since the Department of Agriculture announced a confirmed screwworm detection in a calf in Texas on June 3, politicians on both sides of the aisle have lobbed blame at the other. The return of the fly is a major threat to the cattle industry, and its arrival in Mexico has already contributed to rising beef prices in the U.S.
Several Democrats and some in the media have been pointing the finger at President Donald Trump, noting staffing cuts at USDA or funding cuts to screwworm programs made in early 2025 by DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“Apologized yet for the Screwworm outbreak?” Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, wrote in a June 8 X post addressed to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “You agreed to the DOGE cuts to federal programs that were designed to prevent Screwworm outbreaks.” He repeated a similar statement at a June 9 press conference.
