It has been a devastating week on the Hill for animal rights advocates as the House Rules Committee rejected two bipartisan amendments designed to protect horses from mass killing in the U.S.
Yesterday, the Committee refused to agree on an amendment that would have prevented the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from murdering healthy wild horses and burros.
Representatives Dina Titus, D-Nevada, Peter King, R-New York, Jared Polis, D-Colorado, Reps. Carlos Curbelo, R-Florida, and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-New Mexico, introduced the amendment after the House Appropriations Committee voted on July 19, 2017, to remove the same protective language from the Interior Appropriations bill.
In its original state, the bill would have prohibited any of the provided 2018 fiscal year appropriations from being used for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products, including for human consumption.
Unfortunately, the bill was subsequently packaged into a larger appropriations omnibus spending measure attached to HR 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act of 2018.
Unfathomably, on Tuesday, the House Rules Committee also turned down a bipartisan amendment that would have barred the U.S. Department of Agriculture from funding horse meat inspectors, a move that would have prevented horse slaughter from returning to the United States for the first time since 2007.
Representatives Vern Buchanan, R-Florida, Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-California, Ed Royce, R-California, and Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, introduced the anti-slaughter amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill, which also became part of the combined appropriations bill attached to HR 3354.
As a result, now, neither amendment will be part of HR 3354 when it goes to the floor.
That is why now more than ever, groups such as Return To Freedom are urging advocates to focus on the Senate because while the Senate Appropriations Committee voted against horse slaughter in July, as part of the Agriculture Appropriations bill, the group points out that the Committee has yet to act on the Interior Appropriations bill, which includes the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
PEOPLE SHOULD CALL THEIR SENATORS AT (202) 224-3121, TO IMPLORE THAT THEY STAY STEADFAST AGAINST HORSE SLAUGHTER AND TO OPPOSE ANY ATTEMPT TO ALLOW THE BLM TO KILL WILD HORSES AND BURROS OR SELL THEM TO OTHERS WHO WOULD.
Return to Freedom is dedicated to preserving the freedom, diversity, and habitat of America’s wild horses through sanctuary, education, advocacy, and conservation, while enriching the human spirit through a direct connection with the natural world.
The non-profit organization has a defense fund in place to draw from when necessary to selectively litigate against actions which would set a dangerous precedent to threaten America’s wild horses and burros. Donations to the fund can be made HERE!
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