{"id":1758,"date":"2026-06-17T11:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:06:24","slug":"peak-incompetence-trump-wants-1b-for-screwworm-after-cutting-15m-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1758","title":{"rendered":"‘Peak incompetence’: Trump wants $1B for screwworm after cutting $15M program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Elon Musk\u2019s \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d took its chainsaw to the federal bureaucracy last year, it created bottlenecks that may have hampered the fight against the screwworm infestation currently menacing the southwest while making it much more expensive.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump-backed candidate goes down in flames in key swing state<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual US Department of Agriculture (USDA) spending to combat the flesh-eating insects only amounted to about $15 million per year. But along with about $382 million aimed at combating animal-borne illnesses around the globe, it was terminated in March 2025 as part of DOGE\u2019s effort to root out what it described as government \u201cwaste.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now, with the pests bearing down on Texas and New Mexico, and at least 12 infections already identified in the US as of Tuesday, the Trump administration is spending at least $1 billion to fight the outbreak.<\/p>\n

Last week, during a Senate hearing, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins attempted to shift blame for the screwworm outbreak onto the Biden administration, while portraying herself and President Donald Trump as proactive in response to reports last spring that the insects were rapidly climbing through Central America.<\/p>\n

Rollins said she asked Trump for \u201c$1 billion to build a significant facility\u201d in Texas that would breed hundreds of millions of sterilized male screwworm flies, a method that had been used to keep them contained in South America for decades. \u201cWithout hesitation, a couple questions, he said, \u2018go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That facility is expected to release around 300 million sterile flies per week. But it is not expected to be fully operational until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

In addition to the $15 million cut to monitoring the spread of the bugs from Panama, the Houston Chronicle reported that DOGE paused plans for a facility in Mexico that the Biden administration had authorized in 2024 as part of a $165 million emergency package to fight screwworm.<\/p>\n

Amid mass layoffs at the USDA, it reported that funding for the facility\u2014which was supposed to produce between 60-100 million sterile flies per week\u2014was not announced until May 2025.<\/p>\n

While the USDA\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) still says fly production at the facility is expected to begin \u201cas early as summer 2026,\u201d it is still listed as \u201cunder construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Victorious Trump-backed candidate boosts Democrats in key swing state<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Shea, who served as administrator of APHIS under the Obama administration and retired from the agency in January 2025, told the Chronicle that efforts to contain the screwworm were put on hold at the start of Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration came in so skeptical of the career people, they didn\u2019t really want to listen,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hold up in the money going to Mexico for the sterile fly facility was most likely caught up in the whole DOGE thing. It probably looked like some sort of foreign aid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalist Christopher Collins wrote in the Texas Observer on Tuesday that, additionally, \u201cdeep staffing cuts\u201d to APHIS, which lost nearly 1,900 employees during Trump\u2019s first year back in office, eliminated \u201cthe first line of defense against incoming parasites,\u201d who are responsible for \u201cinspecting the cattle awaiting import from Mexico to ensure no screwworms are hitching a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the spread of screwworm across cattle country threatens to further drive up beef prices that have already increased by over 20% since Trump returned to office, critics of the administration are seizing on it to highlight the failure of the president\u2019s so-called \u201cefficiency\u201d initiative, which\u2014despite the grandeur of Musk\u2019s cost-cutting claims\u2014ended up costing<\/em> taxpayers an estimated $165 billion, according to an April 2026 report from the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.<\/p>\n

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called the screwworm saga a prime example of DOGE\u2019s \u201cpeak incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump and Musk\u2019s DOGE \u2018saved\u2019 $15 million by cutting a program dedicated to preventing the spread of screwworm,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, there\u2019s an outbreak infecting our beef and the administration is spending $1 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reacting to the news that the government was spending at least $1 billion to confront the screwworm crisis, Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim wrote on social media, \u201cNot joking but Elon Musk should have to pay for this right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou broke it,\u201d he said, tagging the man who recently became the world\u2019s first trillionaire. \u201cWhy do we all have to pay for it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Voters unleash devastating hard pass on Trump and his party: report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Elon Musk\u2019s \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d took its chainsaw to the federal bureaucracy last year, it created bottlenecks that may have hampered the fight against the screwworm infestation currently menacing the southwest while making it much more expensive.The annual US Department of Ag…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n'Peak incompetence': Trump wants $1B for screwworm after cutting $15M program - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1758\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Peak incompetence': Trump wants $1B for screwworm after cutting $15M program - 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