BREAKING NEWS! The USDA has been granted more money to enforce the HPA! The final bill was signed by President Obama this week, so the approval has come down from the top! The final decision was to split the difference between the Senate and the House bills. This is a big deal considering that major cuts were made across the board with the USDA. But in those cuts it seems that enforcing the HPA won out among a lot of people who want to keep things status quo!
Click here to see the entire Act, H.R. 2112. Page H.R. 2112 states as follows:
ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
For necessary expenses of the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, including up to $30,000 for representation allowances and for expenses pursuant to the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4085), $816,534,000...of which $696,000 shall be for activities under the authority of the Horse
Protection
Act of 1970, as amended (15 U.S.C. 1831).
We need to thank all of the people who worked so hard to get this passed and won the bipartisan support of 125 reps and 34 senators, especially since one of them is from Kentucky and two are from Tennessee! The list of people to thank that worked so hard are as follows:
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.
Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky.
Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.
Also, don't forget to send your letters to the USDA to congratulate them AND to ask them to put this money to good use! We need to see more of these cases brought to court, so also send your request to the OIG to get them to do more work like they did in the Davis et. al. case.
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There was, however, great news for horses also contained in
the committee’s bill: Congress is poised to increase funding for enforcement of
the decades-old Horse Protection Act, which has been stuck at the woefully
inadequate ceiling of $500,000 since 1976. The minibus provides $696,000 for
the Horse Protection Act—almost a 40% jump, and a very important signal that
USDA needs additional resources to step up its enforcement of this federal law
against widespread cruelty to show horses. (The conferees split the difference,
since the Senate bill had $891,000 and the House bill had $500,000). The Horse
Protection Act combats the criminal act of “soring” horses, the intentional use
of caustic chemicals and sharp objects on horses’ hooves and legs to make it painful
for them to step down and give them an artificial, high-stepping gait in show
competitions—in other words, deliberate, illegal infliction of severe pain in
order to cheat and win prizes.
In fact, in a very tough budget climate, with so many
lawmakers focused on deficit reduction this year, we fought hard to keep
funding levels strong for a range of animal welfare programs. The HSUS and HSLF
worked with Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and David Vitter, R-La., and Reps.
Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to mobilize a sign-on letter,
and won the bipartisan support of 125 representatives and 34 senators
requesting modest funding levels that are critically needed to implement and
enforce the Animal Welfare Act, the Horse Protection Act, the Humane Methods of
Slaughter Act, the federal animal fighting law, and programs to help prepare
for the needs of animals in disasters and to address the shortage of
veterinarians in rural and inner-city areas and public health practice. We also
worked with Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Reps. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., Phil Roe,
R-Tenn., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., to push specifically for the increased
funding to crack down on horse soring.
Many programs were competing for dollars, and USDA and its
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service took sizable cuts overall ($350
million and $47 million, respectively), as did many individual accounts. But,
even within this broader political landscape, we were able to maintain
consistent or increased funding levels for most animal welfare programs.
