Washington Roundup – June 2025

House Agriculture Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2026 Appropriations

On June 23rd, the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of FY 2026 agriculture appropriations by at vote of 35-27. The House bill provides a total discretionary allocation of $25.523 billion, which is $1.163 billion (4.2%) below the Fiscal Year 2025 enacted level. The House bill does not follow the Administration’s request for major cuts to USDA research, education and economics programs. While there are some reductions to USDA REE agencies/programs, they are not to the magnitude proposed in the President’s Budget. 

Below is a table comparing the President’s budget with final FY 2025 appropriations:

The next step in the process will be consideration by the full House. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to schedule its mark-up for the FY 2026 agricultural appropriations bill.

Senate Considering Budget Reconciliation Package, Including Some Farm Bill Programs

Following passage of the budget reconciliation package in the House, the Senate has begun development of its version of the legislation. Because of the “Byrd Rule”, there are some provisions included in the House version that are being challenged as not directly impacting the budget. This is requiring modifications to the House bill to enable passage in the Senate by a simple majority and avoiding a filibuster. The Senate Agriculture Committee has released its portion of the package. The Senate’s agricultural language is similar to the House passed version, but there are some differences. Both versions include funding for several research provisions. 

Below is a comparison of research provisions included in the agricultural portion of the budget reconciliation package:

Senate leaders are still planning to complete their work by July 4th. The House and Senate would then have to reconcile differences between the two bills. Both chambers would then need to pass the same “final” version for signature by President Trump with a goal of signing it into law before the end of July.

USDA Announces Actions to Combat New World Screwworm

On June 18th, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins launched an $8.5 million sterile New World screwworm (NWS) fly dispersal facility in South Texas and announced a five-pronged plan to enhance USDA’s ability to detect, control, and eliminate this pest. 

NWS can cause serious and often deadly damage to livestock, wildlife, pets, and in rare cases, humans. While NWS has been eradicated from the United States for decades, recent detections in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border, led to the immediate suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border on May 11, 2025.

Key Facets of USDA’s Five-Pronged Plan to Address New World Screwworm

1. Stop the Pest from Spreading in Mexico and Ensure We Are Full Partners in Eradication

• USDA’s recent $21 million expenditure went toward renovating an existing fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico, which will provide an additional 60-100 million sterile flies a week to stop the spread, on top of the over 100 million already produced in Panama. This will result in at least 160 million flies per week.
• USDA has conducted an in-person audit of Mexico’s animal health controls and will maintain close continual monitoring of these aspects moving forward and will make continuous improvements. 
• USDA is working closely with Mexico to improve its surveillance and detection of NWS, which includes but is not limited to regularly providing traps, lures, and technical expertise to Mexico.

2. Protect the U.S. Border at All Costs

• USDA will support Mexico’s strategic trapping along our shared border and ensure we receive regular reporting as an early warning intervention.
• USDA will escalate communications and public outreach along the U.S.-Mexico border to create a “barrier zone of vigilance” and boost as close to real time as possible awareness of this pest.
• APHIS cattle fever tick riders in collaboration with U.S. Customs & Border Protection and with state partners will intercept and treat stray and illegally introduced livestock.

3. Maximize Our Readiness

• USDA will partner with state animal health officials to update and finalize emergency management plans and support federal, state, and local responders in training on and practicing for a potential response.
• USDA will ensure we have sufficient NWS treatments and will work to remove any federal regulatory hurdles for their use.

4. Take the Fight to the Screwworm

• Because sterile NWS flies are one of the most important and proven tools we have for eradicating the pest, USDA will immediately begin building a sterile insect dispersal facility at Moore Air Base, set to be completed in 2025. This facility will have the capability to disperse sterile flies in Northern Mexico.
• USDA is exploring all options to eradicate NWS, which includes potential expenditures in new technologies, new science, including possible plans to move forward with the design process of a domestic sterile fly production facility to compliment the new dispersal facility at Moore Air Base which has also been identified as the proposed location. The facility could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week and could complement current production that already exists in Panama and Mexico.

5. Innovate Our Way to Eradication

• USDA is pursuing innovative research to improve sterile insect technology, exploring development of better traps and lures, exploring next generation NWS treatments, and assessing the potential use and practicality of additional strains or genetically modified versions of the pest as well as e-beam and other radiation technology for the production of sterile flies.
• USDA will strengthen partnerships with land-grant universities in border states such as Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to facilitate local training, trap deployment, surveillance validation, and stakeholder outreach as an initial manner.

In addition, USDA announced that it will hold four public listening sessions to get stakeholder feedback on the following topics: sterile fly production technology, eradication tools and technologies aside from sterile fly production, the benefits and barriers including timelines and costs of enhanced domestic vs international sterile fly production, and other innovative ideas.