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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, it won't surprise anybody that the State of Texas has long been the leading State in the cattle industry, supplying the Nation with steaks, hamburgers, and other protein products that grace many of our dinner tables every night.

Texas ranks first in the Nation in cattle production, coming in at 12 million head a year, representing nearly 15 percent of the total production in the United States and generating more than $1 billion in revenue.

Unfortunately, this essential food supply and corresponding food price are under threat from the outbreak of a particularly pernicious parasite called the New World screwworm. The New World screwworm lays its eggs in the wombs of warmblooded animals, particularly livestock. The larvae then burrow into the opening, creating infections that, left untreated, can cause animals to die within a week.

With no known vaccinations to prevent infections, outbreaks in cattle herds require labor-intensive daily inspections of livestock to make sure they have not been infested.

Since 2023, there have been outbreaks of this deadly insect in Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Costa Rica, a country that ended up declaring the New World screwworm a national emergency in 2024.

Last November, the fly made its way back to Mexico. This, of course, has raised concerns among Texas cattle ranchers that it may soon come across the border and lead to an outbreak in our State.

Earlier this month, the threat became even more acute as a case of New World screwworm was reported less than 400 miles south of the United States-Mexico border.

An outbreak of the New World screwworm in the State of Texas is estimated to cost U.S. livestock producers approximately $1 billion and cost the general economy $3.7 billion due to lost production of meat and milk, as well as livestock death, veterinary costs, labor costs, and more.

This would be absolutely devastating to places like Texas but also to the entire country. Knowing I was coming to the floor to speak about this, I asked my staff to look at what other States might be implicated, and it is virtually every State in the Nation, including the great State of Alabama that produces an estimated 1.2 million head of cattle on an annual basis.

Thankfully, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has snapped into action. Secretary Rollins is currently working with our international partners on an ambitious plan to slow the spread of this terrible parasite.

In May, Secretary Rollins closed U.S. ports to Mexican cattle, bison, and horses to prevent an additional spread. And while these ports were initially scheduled to begin reopening as early as this month, additional cases have delayed that timeline.

But, of course, halting our imports will increase costs for all consumers; and while it is an important part of stopping this parasite, it is not a permanent solution.

For that, we can look to history as our guide. The last time North America faced a similar outbreak of the screwworm was back in the 1960s.

During that contagion, we were able to eradicate these deadly infestations, countering the spread by producing sterile male flies. The sterile male flies mate with the female flies who can only mate once during their lifetime; so, by releasing large numbers of these sterile male flies, the population growth of this parasite can be stopped in its tracks.

This approach worked in the 1960s, and I am hopeful that it will work again in this decade.

As we speak, there is only one sterile fly plant in North America, located in Panama. This plant is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by COPEG, or the Panama-U.S. Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm Infestation in Livestock, which was established in 1998.

As the New World screwworm continues traveling north, we need another plan to prevent population spread. A sterile fly plant will cost as much as $300 million according to some estimates, and that is certainly not just pocket change. But it pales in comparison with the cost of not doing anything to eradicate this terrible threat.

The economic impact of the devastation that continued spread would cause my State is estimated to be as high as $10 billion, and this would not be limited to Texas, as I said. It would include other cattle-producing States, including Kansas, Nebraska, California, and New Mexico, who, along with Texas, are the primary cattle-producing regions in the country.

Recently, the U.S. and Mexican Governments have partnered to invest in renovating the existing fruit fly-producing facility in Mexico, aiming to further the long-term goal of eradication.

In addition, USDA is building a sterile fly dispersal facility in Hidalgo, TX, in the Rio Grande Valley.

To build on top of these efforts, I will be offering an amendment during the appropriations process on the floor to ensure that the United States is prepared to combat the threat of this parasite.

I am grateful to Secretary Rollins for her leadership. As a Texan, perhaps she understands this threat better than most, and I am confident in her strong and decisive leadership toward eradicating this parasite and that it will reap rewards.

But it is not going to happen by itself. We are going to have to, unfortunately, not only authorize the production of this sterile fly capability--which we have done in the One Big Beautiful Bill--we are actually going to have to appropriate money to help get this started.

I look forward to continuing to work with her and all of my colleagues to ensure that Texas cattle ranchers and our country's food supply are kept safe from this pesky parasite.

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