Firstly, one very obvious point. The scientific community is international, it's work is peer-reviewed and made available to other scientists the world over, so for the most part where research is taking place is irrelevant. The second more crucial point is this.
The common fruit fly, Drosphila Melanogaster is probably the single most important model of genetics currently available to researchers. So much of what we know about gene expression as a whole comes from research on this tiny insect, and it is vitally important work that underpins research on any species. Our knowledge of Hox genes, large groupings of genes that control development of large strctures such as body segments, comes from research on fruit flies. Even prior to the discovery of DNA, it was research on Drosophila that showed decisively that chromosomes were a vector of heredity, work that won the Nobel Prize.
As for the idea that this work does not serve the public good, that's plain wrong. We share many of these genetic traits, because we (whisper it) have a shared genetic heritage with every other creature on the fucking planet. You want advances in medicine? Make nice with the Drosophila.
This woman revels in her ignorance, positively basks in her fundamental lack of awareness of the world. Worse than that, she is representative of a strain of people, certainly not limited to America, for whom a lack of any sort of intellectual curiosity in their public servants is seen as a boon.
