Following the U.S. Department of Agriculture's confirmation on Wednesday that the New World screwworm fly has reached south Texas for the first time in decades, questions are being raised about what role DOGE cuts played in what could become a crisis to the nation's cattle industry.
First Case Identified in Texas
The case was first identified in a 3-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas, about 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. The parasite has flesh-eating larvae that burrow into the healthy tissue of cattle, deer, horses and other warm-blooded animals, according to the USDA.
If left untreated, the parasite can cause a rapidly spreading infection, which may turn fatal in seven to 10 days, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Concerns Over Border Spread
While Rollins said the USDA is confident that "there is no threat of mass infestation," agriculture officials in Texas and cattle industry leaders have been concerned about the parasites' movement across the southern border for the past year. Ranchers in southern Mexico have been contending with screwworm outbreaks since last year, which prompted the Trump administration to temporarily suspend the import of livestock from Mexico. Prior to the parasites' U.S. eradication in the 1970s, they caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to cattle ranchers yearly.
DOGE Cuts to USAID Program
Roughly two months before the suspension, the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gutted the United States Agency for International Development, which included a program dedicated to preventing the spread of the parasite across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report from Agri-Pulse published last March, which cited a list of cut programs sent to Congress. The screwworm prevention program was part of roughly 5,300 grants and programs cut from USAID. The program also monitored outbreaks of avian flu in Asia, according to the report. Musk called USAID at the time a "crazy waste of money" and "a radical-left political psy op," claiming the government agency was "paying media organizations to publish their propaganda."
Uncertain Impact
It's unclear how the cuts may have contributed to the recent screwworm case in Texas or what effects they could have in the future, but cattle industry leaders at the time raised alarms about the parasite's rapid spread through Mexico. "For months, the screwworm has advanced rapidly through Mexico in spite of the USDA's existing game plan," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NBC News on Wednesday. Miller added that he directly spoke with President Donald Trump, urging him to take control of the federal government's response and "throw every available federal resource at this threat before it becomes a full-blown agricultural disaster."
Potential Economic Impact
The USDA estimates that a screwworm outbreak similar to an isolated one in 1976 could result in roughly $1.8 billion in losses to the Texas economy.
