Brooke Rawlins

Every model Senator showed it would hit our side of the border, Texas and New Mexico, by last summer.

So we've been able to hold it at bay for a year while we've been building out these facilities and staffing up.

This is a nonpartisan issue.

We've got to protect our livestock industry, our hunting industry 100%.

We know

This development is a serious threat, but it did not catch us off guard.

The last USDA had an equivalent of 10 full-time employees working on the New World Screw Worm.

Before it was even confirmed, we had over 110 full-time staff in preparation.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins announced the funding freeze in a letter posted on X, claiming the Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota.

It's not clear what she meant by that, but the letter noted the years-long benefits fraud scandal there that's already seen more than 60 people convicted.

USDA is demanding justification before it restarts payments, $129 million in all.

The move comes as a judge has temporarily blocked a much larger funding freeze, $10 billion in cash aid, child care and other social services to Minnesota and four other Democratic-led states.

The Trump administration has alleged rampant fraud in all those states without providing evidence.

Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.