Motivate Congress To Cut the Deficit By $1 Billion

Originally Posted: 2 November 2011

Motivate Congress To Cut the Deficit and Save $1 Billion By Helping Animals Now!

FROM In Defense of Animals (IDA)

ACTION

Tell your Congressional Representatives to cut the deficit by protecting animals:

1. End warehousing of chimpanzees in federally-funded laboratories – save $300 million!
2. Eliminate the need to feed thousands of wild horses in government holding pens by using immunocontraception rather than round-ups and removals – save $172 million!
3. Replace animal testing procedures with dramatically more efficient methods – save $500 million!
4. Reduce government subsidies of inefficient and inhumane lethal predator control – save $110 million!

Sign an online petition:
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1991&JServSessionIdr004=82i3kizd66.app246b

And/or better yet, make direct contact:

Contact your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov/

Contact your U.S. Senators
http://www.senate.gov/

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

In order to resolve our country’s historic budget crisis, the U.S. Congress has created a 12-member “Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction” that is to create a plan by November 23 to reduce our nation’s debt by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. There are many areas of spending on which the 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats will have difficulty agreeing. However, because so much wasteful spending also needlessly harms animals, this gives the animal protection community an enormous and extraordinary opportunity to suggest budget cuts that the committee can easily agree on!

The Humane Society Legislative Fund has suggested reforming four wasteful programs that together will save taxpayers more than $1 billion. In Defense of Animals (IDA) endorses this proposal, and we’re asking our members to send a fax to the committee that points out to them these probably overlooked opportunities for savings. The fax will automatically be cc-ed to your own U.S. Senators and Representative also.

The four money-saving reforms suggested are:

1. End warehousing of chimpanzees in federally-funded laboratories – save $300 million!
2. Eliminate the need to feed thousands of wild horses in government holding pens by using immunocontraception rather than round-ups and removals – save $172 million!
3. Replace animal testing procedures with dramatically more efficient methods – save $500 million!
4. Reduce government subsidies of inefficient and inhumane lethal predator control – save $110 million!

SAMPLE LETTER:

As a member of In Defense of Animals (IDA) and as a U.S. taxpayer and voter, I urge you to cut wasteful spending that harms animals. I endorse these four specific cuts that will collectively save more than a billion dollars:

1. About 1,000 chimpanzees are warehoused in expensive lab cages. End warehousing of chimpanzees in federally-funded laboratories - save $300 million!

2. There is no justification for the BLM to continue holding and feeding 46,000 mustangs in costly holding pens. Eliminate the need to feed thousands of wild horses in government holding pens by using immunocontraception rather than round-ups and removals - save $172 million!

3. Replace animal testing procedures with dramatically more efficient methods - save $500 million!

4. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services division should not be providing taxpayer-subsidized wildlife extermination services to private ranchers. Reduce government subsidies of inefficient and inhumane lethal predator control - save $110 million!

I pay the taxes that pay for these programs. You've been tasked with reducing our deficit.

I know you have some hard choices but these are not hard. These are all very easy choices.

Please consider these common-sense, humane ideas to reduce our deficit while also stopping needless animal suffering.

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!