Including $6 million to help fight cattle fever ticks in South Texas
Texas Border Business
WASHINGTON — Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announced that he included $97.5 million and language in the U.S. House of Representatives fiscal year 2019 Appropriations bill for the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Cattle Health Program, including $5 million specifically for research and scientific tools to eradicate cattle fever tick, and an additional $1 million for USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) to conduct research on cattle fever tick treatments.
The provisions were included in a spending package that includes the homeland security; financial services; interior and environment; agriculture; commerce, justice, and science; transportation and housing; and foreign aid spending bills. It passed both chambers of Congress and was signed by the President into law last week.
Congressman Cuellar said, “Our cattle producers contribute greatly to the economy and way of life in South Texas. They deserve our assistance in the face of threats to their vitality. Fighting these ticks
The U.S. cattle industry is valued at roughly $81 billion. Cattle fever ticks carry microscopic parasites that cause anemia, fever, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and often death for up to 90 percent of infected cattle. Along the Rio Grande, there is a Permanent Cattle Fever Tick Quarantine Zone, an area that spans eight counties on the border and over a half million acres stretching from the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville to Amistad Dam north of Del Rio, intended to prevent the spread of the often deadly tick-borne disease. Infestations have been reported elsewhere in Central and South Texas as well.
In FY18, Congressman Cuellar helped secure millions of dollars for cattle health, including millions to fight fever ticks. In a restricted budget environment in which the President planned cuts to nearly every federal non-defense program, this level funding is a big win for the cattle industry. In FY17, USDA allocated $12.2 million from this account to fight the ticks in areas like Starr, Zapata, and Webb Counties in Texas.
“I would like to thank my fellow Appropriators, Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman Sanford Bishop and Ranking Member Jeff Fortenberry for helping me secure these funds,” Congressman Cuellar added. “I also want to thank the Texas Farm Bureau, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and the South Texans’ Property Rights Association for their consistent efforts to help highlight and battle this issue at the local, State, and Federal level for our Texas ranchers and cattle producers.”
“Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) appreciates Congressman Henry Cuellar for continuing to make fever tick eradication a priority in Congress,” said TFB President Russell Boening. “He has again secured critical resources for fever tick research and ranchers impacted by the devastating pest. Congressman Cuellar is a steadfast champion for Texas agriculture, and we are proud to have him as a partner in eradicating the fever tick.”
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said, “Preventing and eradicating cattle fever ticks is a top animal health priority for NCBA. Congressman Cuellar’s tireless advocacy continues to play a critical role in ensuring that USDA officials have the resources they need to get the job done. The funding Congressman Cuellar helped secure will support ranching families in Texas who are forced to bear the brunt of this damaging pest.”
“The South Texans’ Property Rights Association considers Congressman Cuellar to be the leading champion of fever tick control in this country,” said Susan Kibbe, Executive Director of the South Texans’ Property Rights Association. “He understands the issue better than anyone in political office and he has fought the hardest to maintain funding that is desperately needed to control this scourge that has plagued us since the 1940’s and the research that will ultimately eliminate it.”
Read report language here.
