USDA Secretary Rollins calls Texas ag chief 'unserious' amid screwworm threat

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, center, poses for a photo with Oklahoma Agriculture Secretary Blayne Arthur, left, and Texas Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller, right, following a press conference discussing measures dealing with the New World screwworm at the Texas Capitol, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Austin, Texas. Rodolfo Gonzalez | AP Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Monday called Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller "unserious" after he criticized the USDA 's response to the growing threat from the flesh-eating New World Screwworm . Miller, who lost the March Republican primary in a bid for a fourth term despite winning President Donald Trump 's endorsement, has repeatedly slammed the USDA's response after the parasitic pest was detected in Texas last week. He has argued that the federal department acted too slowly to contain the pest and ignored a response mechanism that he has pushed. At a Monday news conference in Texas on the USDA's response, Rollins was asked about Miller's recent assertion that ranchers would not report a case on their farms over fear that the government would impose a quarantine. "That is a very unserious comment, from perhaps an unserious ag commissioner with just a few months left," she said of Miller. "It is also a very dangerous suggestion." The rift between Rollins and Miller effectively pits the top agricultural leaders in the country and in the state currently affected by the outbreak against each other. …