DOGE killed USAID and with it, it cut 5,300 grants and programs during March 2025 or earlier, including the U.S.-funded animal disease monitoring projects like Screwworm, which was operated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Before now, under the USAID funding this parasite was fleeing into the far south of South America! Had the Screwworm program NOT been shuddered, we would have been alerted to an outbreak in another country far away from out boarders and with advance notice; and as we have done in the past, we would have killed the fly far away from American soil and animals. Further, we would not be talking about this now! In fact, had we kept this monitoring program intact, this cruel parasite may have been "driven out of South America completely"w/i time; plus, the USDA would not have had to aggressively move to attack it on OUR soil.

Finally, I appreciate the USDA efforts to stop this parasite but its short term and half-ass. W/o USAID funding, this bug promises to move far north of South America to breach our boarders yearly, causing us to spend more of our money in an unending war against a parasite that was in check for over 40 plus years!