USA: Support Farm Bill Amendments for Animals! Action Alert!

Advocacy Center
Action Alert
USA: Support Farm Bill Amendments for Animals!

see link: http://www.capwiz.com/aspca/issues/alert/?alertid=62734246&type=CO

Amendments to the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (Farm Bill)
U.S. H.R. 1947
ASPCA Position: Support .

Update, 6/19/2013: Early Wednesday morning, House leadership declined to consider these three amendments for inclusion in the Farm Bill. The ASPCA is disappointed that these important issues will not be debated by the entire House of Representatives. We appreciate your interest in federal legislation to protect animals. Stay tuned to www.aspca.org/advocacy for further updates on the Farm Bill.

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is considering the House Farm Bill, legislation that will set policy for many federal agricultural programs. Several Members of Congress have proposed amendments to the Farm Bill to improve the treatment of animals. These amendments may be considered today and could be voted on individually by the entire House.

• Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), Michael Grimm (R-NY), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Amendment

This amendment will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. and ban the export of horses abroad for that purpose. Over 80% of Americans oppose horse slaughter and American horse meat poses a serious risk to human health. The Meehan-Lujan Grisham Amendment will protect our nation’s horses from the predatory horse slaughter industry and the public from toxic horse meat. The cruelties associated with horse slaughter are well-documented. Horse slaughter is not a form of euthanasia and cannot be made humane in this country or abroad. With horse slaughterhouses poised to open in the U.S., the Meehan-Lujan Grisham amendment is urgently needed.

• Reps. Jeff Denham (R-CA), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), John Campbell (R-CA), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) Amendment

This amendment strikes the terrible King language that would gut existing state laws to protect animals and adds standards to improve the lives of our nation’s egg laying hens. The King language, added to the Farm Bill in committee, would be a gross overreach that would forbid states from passing laws on a wide array of issues, including protecting animals on farms, regulating puppy mills, preventing the killing of dogs or cats for food, oversight of food safety, or protecting consumers from dangerous products.

The Denham-Schrader Amendment would improve welfare standards for egg laying hens with standards for cage size, air quality, enrichment, food and water, and euthanasia. The hens who produce eggs in our country deserve protection and better treatment. Currently, most of the nation’s 280 million laying hens live in cages affording each just 67 square inches, and tens of millions live in just 48 square inches, less than the size of an iPad for each hen. This amendment will increase the size of these cages and will improve the overall welfare and living conditions of these animals.

• Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) Amendment

This amendment seeks to end the cruel practice of horse soring, the practice of inflicting severe pain in horses’ legs and hooves to force them into an unnatural high-stepping gait (walk). Through the use of caustic chemicals on the skin and foreign objects inserted into the hoof, soring causes horses to unnaturally fling their legs up in a high-stepping “big lick” gait that wins prizes at some horse shows. The measure would eliminate the walking horse industry’s currently deficient self-policing practices and require horse show organizers to hire only USDA-licensed inspectors. The Whitfield-Cohen Amendment would also increase the penalties for this cruel practice.

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