Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 10
USDA Added 100 Staff for Screwworm Response as Rollins Rejects Cut-Impact Claims
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 10

USDA Added 100 Staff for Screwworm Response as Rollins Rejects Cut-Impact Claims

3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 10

Summary

  • More than 100 full-time USDA employees were added over the past 15 months to prepare for New World screwworm reaching the US, Brooke Rollins told a Senate hearing.
  • Rollins used that staffing buildup to rebut claims that broader agency cuts could slow the federal response to the deadly cattle parasite outbreak in Texas.
  • The exchange puts USDA staffing under sharper scrutiny as the Texas outbreak tests whether the department can contain a livestock threat with major economic stakes.

Insights

Is a century-old technique enough to stop the screwworm parasite from devastating the US cattle industry?
With a new $750M fly facility a year away, can current measures contain the screwworm outbreak through another summer?