House Ag Committee advances dangerous bill
that weakens protections for farm animals and dogs in puppy mills,
reversing decades of animal welfare progress
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has
passed its long-awaited $1.5 trillion
Farm Bill, including dangerous provisions that would directly
impact billions of farm animals, dogs, cats, and other animals. The
ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals®) denounced the passage of the House
Farm Bill, which would overturn existing state and local animal
welfare laws, with disastrous consequences for farm animals and
higher-welfare farmers. Additionally, the bill not only fails to
provide critically needed enforcement advancements to protect dogs
in puppy mills, but actually makes it harder to help dogs who are
suffering. It also fails to provide support to the tens of
thousands of American horses who are exported for slaughter each
year.
"The Farm Bill has the power to impact U.S. agriculture
policy for decades to come, and the House Agriculture Committee has
squandered this opportunity to advance much-needed reforms,
choosing instead to pass a disastrous proposal that attacks state
protections for farm animals, puts dogs in puppy mills at even
greater risk, and fails to address the horse slaughter crisis,"
said Nancy Perry, senior vice
president of Government Relations for the ASPCA.
"Congressional leaders have a responsibility to reject the
predatory systems that perpetuate cruelty to animals, and we urge
them to pass a final Farm Bill that upholds state farm animal
protection laws, institutes much-needed funding and transparency
measures to support a more humane food system, and includes both
Goldie's Act and the SAFE Act, bipartisan bills that are critical
to ensuring the welfare of dogs, horses, and other animals."
The House Farm Bill includes the following dangerous
animal-related provisions:
- Weakens Enforcement for Dogs Suffering in Puppy Mills:
Instead of advancing protections for dogs in puppy mills, the House
Farm Bill allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to
continue lax enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, codifying some
of the USDA's worst practices, all of which lead to animal
suffering being ignored. Rather than requiring the agency to remove
suffering animals, the bill merely tasks the agency to "consider"
removing a dog in a state of "unrelieved suffering." Even worse,
the bill further narrows the definition of "suffering," leading to
even fewer animals receiving the urgent care they need. It also
allows the agency to shirk its enforcement responsibilities by
simply notifying law enforcement officials where the suffering
animal is located then passing on the problems to local and state
authorities. The ASPCA is urging Congress to remove the existing
problematic language and to include the full text of Goldie's Act
in the final Farm Bill to require the USDA to conduct frequent and
meaningful inspections, provide lifesaving intervention for
suffering animals, issue penalties for violations, and communicate
with local law enforcement in a meaningful way to address cruelty
and neglect.
- Attacks Local and State Farm Animal Welfare Laws: The
House bill includes so-called "compromise" language based on the
Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, a dangerous
overreach of federal power that would eliminate existing state and
local animal welfare laws, including bans on cruel farming
practices. This language is a direct response to the success of
animal welfare laws like California's Proposition 12, which was upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and the latest transparent
attempt to acquiesce to the demands of industrial agriculture
interests, steamrolling states' rights and ignoring the will of
voters along the way. If this language stays in the Farm Bill,
millions of farm animals will be forced back into inhumane cages
while thousands of independent, higher-welfare farmers will be
further disadvantaged in an already incredibly consolidated
marketplace unfairly dominated by factory farming.
In addition to weakening existing protections for farm animals
and dogs in puppy mills, the House Farm Bill also fails to include
a bipartisan prohibition on horse slaughter. Despite congressional
efforts that have effectively blocked the operation of horse
slaughterhouses on U.S. soil since 2007, tens of thousands of
American horses continue to be shipped to Canadian and Mexican
slaughterhouses that supply other countries with horsemeat. The
Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act would expand the Dog
and Cat Meat Prohibition Act – which passed as part of the 2018
Farm Bill – to include equines, prohibiting the commercial
slaughter of horses in the U.S. and ending their export for that
purpose abroad.
The House Farm Bill must now pass the House floor. Once the
Senate releases and passes its own Farm Bill, then House and Senate
leaders will need to concur on a single bill that must be approved
by both chambers before it can be shared with President Biden to be
signed into law.
Members of the public are encouraged to contact their U.S.
representatives to urge them to reject the dangerous provisions in
the House Farm Bill that threaten animal welfare and instead pass a
more humane Farm Bill that protects animals, people, and the
planet. To contact your member of Congress, please visit
www.aspca.org/FarmBill.
About the ASPCA®
Founded in 1866, the
ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals®) was the first animal welfare
organization to be established in North
America and today serves as the nation's leading voice for
vulnerable and victimized animals. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
corporation with more than two million supporters nationwide, the
ASPCA is committed to preventing cruelty to dogs, cats, equines,
and farm animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA assists
animals in need through on-the-ground disaster and cruelty
interventions, behavioral rehabilitation, animal placement, legal
and legislative advocacy, and the advancement of the sheltering and
veterinary community through research, training, and resources. For
more information, visit www.ASPCA.org, and follow the ASPCA on
Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.
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SOURCE ASPCA