New World screwworm has been confirmed in U.S. livestock for the first time in 60 years. Six cases in Texas and New Mexico, spreading from the border to the Hill Country in five days. The United States spent 40 years and $750 million eradicating this pest. The agency that kept it out — APHIS — lost 25% of its workforce in early 2025. International monitoring programs worth $382 million that tracked screwworm through Central America were terminated in March 2025. The pest reached the border within months.
USDA is building a sterile fly facility in Edinburg, Texas using existing authority. That is not enough. Existing authority did not prevent the staffing cuts. Existing authority did not prevent the monitoring programs from being terminated. The STOP Screwworms Act (S. 1751 / H.R. 3392) authorizes $300 million for a domestic sterile fly production facility, requires construction to begin within 180 days, and mandates annual congressional reporting on the threat. It has bipartisan sponsors — Cornyn, Cruz, Lujan, Heinrich, Hyde-Smith — but has not had a hearing in either chamber.
I am asking you to cosponsor this bill and push for a hearing. I am also asking you to support emergency supplemental funding that restores APHIS to full staffing. A full outbreak could cost Texas $1.8 billion and jeopardize $100 billion in national livestock activity. Legislation makes the facility permanent so it cannot be defunded the next time someone decides animal disease prevention is expendable.
