Senate Committee Defends Horses from Slaughter

Washington, DC—The US House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committees have finalized their respective agriculture funding bills for fiscal year 2019. Only the Senate bill, in its present form, includes essential language preventing the commercial slaughter of horses in this country.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) is disappointed that the House Appropriations Committee failed to adopt an amendment that would bar the USDA from conducting inspections of horse slaughter plants. We thank Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) for leading the effort to include this provision.

“As there is currently no permanent federal ban on horse slaughter, withholding funds for inspecting horse slaughter plants in the United States has been key to preventing these horrific facilities from operating here again,” Animal Welfare Institute President Cathy Liss said.

AWI also thanks Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Udall (D-NM), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), for again leading on this issue and working in a bipartisan manner with Chairman John Hoeven (R-ND) and the committee to include the inspection prohibition in the Senate bill.

As lawmakers finalize FY2019 funding for the USDA, AWI urges them to maintain the Senate Appropriations Committee’s prohibition on inspecting horse slaughter facilities,” Liss said. “Their constituents demand it and our nation’s domestic horses depend on it.”