Rep. Tony Gonzales Hosts Town Hall with Texas Agriculture Leaders and Experts

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) hosted a telephone town hall with Texas agriculture leaders and experts.

Along with a legislative update from Congressman Gonzales, Stephen Diebel (Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association), Justin Dreibelbis (Texas Wildlife Association), Warren Cude (Texas Farm Bureau), and Susan Storey Rubio (The Origins Foundation) spoke on recent agricultural developments and the New World screwworm. Congressman Gonzales then took questions from South and West Texans.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity. See below for highlights from Congressman Gonzales' Telephone Town Hall:

Congressman Gonzales: "I thought it was important not just to get an update from Washington, but also to get an update from all the people on the ground doing the work, both in these organizations and, honestly, from everyday ranchers, farmers, and citizens.

"I'll provide a brief legislative update from Washington, and then we'll hear from various leaders within these organizations, particularly on the agricultural front. So, the update here in Washington is that we were able to pass the National Defense Authorization Act. That includes a pay increase, which is wonderful. Also helps our district, in many ways, to help with infrastructure and some other things. So that's an important topic.

"Border security…we were in such a mess underneath the Biden administration, and overnight, President Trump, along with Congress, passed the Big Beautiful Bill, and we were able to really get border security under control...but it is a night-and-day difference, and we all feel it along the border. We've gotten our lives back…and that's important.

"Safety is certainly on my mind quite a bit. The police officers and first responders have been attacked more than ever. It feels like there are constant threats, both in the city and in small towns. It's just a real issue. We've worked really hard on COPS Grants. These are hiring grants. We've gotten over $20 million across the district to help with police officers and sheriffs.

"Rural health care is certainly on my mind as well. More and more, it is harder to get access and quality health care out in rural communities. That hasn't left me one bit, and so we recently dropped a [Congressional letter] with some other colleagues from Texas on rural health care.

"School Safety is certainly on everyone's mind. We just passed the bill out of the house. Believe it or not, there is no national strategy for school safety, and it's long overdue for our kids to be protected in school and not have to worry about some of the dangers. They're living in a completely different world than we all grew up in.

"That's a little bit of an update from Washington. There have been so many different issues with the agricultural community. We've dealt with droughts, we've dealt with floods, we've dealt with parasites, right? This New World screwworm is a real issue. Not only for agriculture, but to people, it's a real threat. And so, a few months ago, what we did was we put together this task force. And the Governor is doing a great job, Governor Abbott put together a task force. I think that's been very effective on the state side. This task force, in particular, was meant to be the bridge between those on the ground and the federal government, because oftentimes the federal government may not move as fast, and we wanted to make sure that we were advocating for that."

Stephen Diebel (Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association): "Thank you, Congressman Gonzales, for asking me to be on. We've ranched there for many generations now, a cow-calf stocker operation. And I think, from a TSCRA perspective, we've really been focusing on New World screwworm. I think it's a situation out there that we realized the significance of many, many months ago, and we've been working really hard in cooperation with state and federal agencies.

"There's a lot of progress that has been made. We're really pleased with some of the information from USDA over the last few weeks on build-outs of these sterile insect technique fly production facilities, disbursement facilities, and also some informational resources out there. Screwworm.gov and also ScrewwormTX.org. There is a state coalition of agencies and stakeholders in the state of Texas here, that have been really diligent about working through all the nuances that we're managing from a New World screwworm perspective. I know there's going to be a lot of dialogue with regards to New World screwworm, but we've been very active in that front, and I think there's been some great progression being made."

Justin Dreibelbis (Texas Wildlife Association): "From the Texas Wildlife Association's perspective, it's obviously a huge issue for our livestock producers, but it's also a huge issue for wildlife. You know, a lot of people may not think about it, but a recent Texas A&M study showed that here in Texas, we have a $9.6 billion white-tailed deer hunting economy. That's massive, and so we definitely are on high alert on the screwworm issue. Very appreciative of USDA's increased communication recently, and all their work to get these sterile insect facilities going. We've beaten this pest back once, and we know we can do it again, but it's going to take a whole lot of sterile flies, and so that's a high priority for us. Excited that the federal government is putting a lot of resources towards this, excited about some investments in private industry for some innovative approaches to surveillance and sterile fly production, so those things are top of mind for us here at TWA, right now. "

Congressman Gonzales: "For folks that are not tracking completely, this New World screwworm, it's essentially a flesh-eating parasite. A lot of talk has been in the livestock industry with cattle, in particular, but this is a parasite that can also, as Justin mentioned, get into our wildlife, it can get into our pets, our cats and dogs, and it can infect humans as well. And so this is a real, serious issue that has essentially grown and so myself, and Senator Cornyn, and Senator Cruz, we came together. We put together a bill early on, but a lot of times in Congress, things are very slow. And so, the goal was, with this task force that we created, was to bring these experts together, and how do we push the federal government to move a little faster and ultimately deliver on what we talked about, like the fly facility that was mentioned, some ways to combat some other things. Research is a big part of it."

Warren Cude (Texas Farm Bureau): " This year has been, and really the last two years, have just been extraordinary, crazy for agriculture. Lots of moving parts, lots of different things going in motion, and, of course, screwworms for Texas being the leading thing that we're talking about, that we're discussing, that's in the forefront. But, I would be remiss if I didn't speak just a second on the One Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump got across the finish line. It has been a big lifesaver for a lot of ranching and farming families with the federal tax exemption of $30 million per couple, and some of the Section 179, the bonus depreciation. Which, you know, a lot of what we talk about in these provisions not only affects farm and ranch families, but it also affects small business owners. So we were happy to see those get across the finish line. And of course, we all still want to get the Farm Bill, the rest of those provisions, across.

Susan Storey Rubio (The Origins Foundation): "Thank you, Tony, for championing this conversation and ensuring that Texas remains engaged as these federal plans develop.

We have confirmed larvae in Nuevo Leon. The threat trajectory is moving north. Texas does not have the luxury of waiting for bureaucratic timelines to catch up to biological reality. We need action, we need transparency, and we need support for modular innovations that can be brought to bear immediately, on behalf of Texas. Time is of the essence, and our industries are in the balance. We simply cannot stand by for a bureaucratic response to a real-world issue. The weather happens to be on our side right now. Those flies are captive with the cooler weather up here in Texas, but they're also enjoying their vacation, breeding and growing in numbers.