Earlier today on the House floor, Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) offered an amendment to strike the prohibition on fee-for-service in the defund language.  This would have allowed for slaughterhouses to pay the USDA for part of their inspections and resume operation.  She claimed people should be able to pay for their own inspections and it wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything.  Of course, that isn’t true.  Individuals wouldn’t be paying for these inspections, the foreign owned plants would.  Furthermore, even a fee-for-service program costs federal tax dollars.  The slaughterhouses would only pay a small portion of the USDA inspector’s salary.  The taxpayer would pay most of their salary, benefits, training, etc…  As horse welfare champion Representative Jim Moran noted in his speech in opposition to the amendment on the floor, it would also pull critical inspectors away from our own food safety oversight. Fee-for-service is basically another taxpayer subsidy for corporations.

After debate on her amendment was concluded, Representative Lummis withdrew it from consideration and the House moved on to the next item on the agenda. We can be assured horse slaughter proponents are not going away on this issue.  Their arguments persist and have become very emotional therefore horse owners and those concerned about the welfare of America’s horses must continue to contact their legislators in support of a permanent ban on horse slaughter.

Thankfully, Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) and Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) were on the floor to talk about overwhelming support for the full ban.  AWI commends them for their continued leadership on this important issue.

To view this eAlert online, please visit: http://www.awionline.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/42301/pid/11187.

Sincerely,
Chris Heyde
Deputy Director, Government and Legal Affairs
Animal Welfare Institute
www.awionline.org