# Brooke Rollins Republican Secretary of Agriculture since 2025. Previously president and CEO of the [[America First Policy Institute]] and director of the [[Domestic Policy Council]] in the first Trump administration, she is a longtime Trump-world policy operative now overseeing farm, food, and forestry policy. ## The screwworm response (2026) As the flesh-eating **New World screwworm** spread into the U.S. in 2026, Rollins repeatedly blamed former president [[Joe Biden]] for the pest's arrival. Reporting undercut the claim: three former [[Department of Agriculture]] officials told *Politico* (June 2026) that Trump-administration officials had held up funding for a facility crucial to slowing the spread and delayed a **$100 million** research initiative to stop it — this after 2025 staffing cuts dropped [[APHIS]] headcount by 25% and drove out more than half the agency's area veterinarians. The episode is an early test of whether Rollins's department can manage a live biosecurity emergency after deliberate cuts to its inspection capacity. ## The Secretary's Priorities Fund (2025–2026) Rollins solicited corporate contributions for departmental initiatives — including the 2025 Great American Farmers Market on the National Mall — routed through the [[National Forest Foundation]], a congressionally chartered Forest Service partner, into a fund designated for the Secretary's priorities. Four companies each gave in the **$100,000–$499,999** band, and each had live federal business at the time: [[Chobani]] (over $12M in USDA commodity contracts, including [[SNAP]] and child-nutrition food donations), [[Visa Inc]] (defending a [[Department of Justice]] antitrust suit), [[John Deere]] (defending an [[FTC]] antitrust suit), and [[Tractor Supply Company]]. The nonprofit intermediary means the payments are not campaign contributions and escape the disclosure and limit regime that would otherwise govern them. Full analysis at [[USDA Secretary's Priorities Fund]]. ## The enforcement contrast The same department, over the same period, generated the referral behind [[United States v. Soriano]] — a federal [[SNAP]] indictment on charged conduct of **$277**. No investigation of the Priorities Fund arrangement has been reported. That pairing is the anchor illustration of [[Fraud Enforcement Inversion]]. ## See also - [[USDA Secretary's Priorities Fund]] · [[SNAP]] · [[United States v. Soriano]] - [[Fraud Enforcement Inversion]] · [[Department of Agriculture]] · [[National Forest Foundation]]