Infrastructure Bill Passes Senate Without Anti-horse Slaughter amendment
Legislation/Policy Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM The Fund for Horses
August 2021

Horse advocates urge voting against the Infrastructure Bill unless anti-slaughter language is reinstated.

Rows of slaughter tags, Mexico | Tras los Muros | Photography for Animal Liberation

The U.S. Senate passed a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill on Tuesday without any provision to ban the export of live horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter for human consumption, putting in jeopardy the anti-slaughter provision comfortably adopted more than a month ago in the House by a voice vote.

The Senate assembled anew its Infrastructure bill, taking the House bill and number, H.R. 3684, the INVEST Act, but little else.

The Senate effectively stripped an amendment led by U.S. Reps. Troy Carter, D-La., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., John Katko, R-N.Y., Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. to the Bill that would have banned the transport of equines across state and federal lines for the purposes of slaughter for human consumption.

This is what the U.S. Senate fights to maintain for America’s horses. "Bled Out Horse, Mexico" | Tras los Muros | Photography for Animal Liberation. Not filed with this press release.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., made an attempt to keep the anti-slaughter transport language in play by filing his own amendment #2296, but that effort gained no momentum, with few Senators treating the anti-slaughter provision in a serious-minded way, even though the House took the issue up and the subject has been the subject of action and discussion during the formulation of the annual Senate Agriculture spending bill.

The measure was been endorsed by more than 229 animal and equine protection and advocacy groups, organizations, rescues, and businesses in the U.S., including The Jockey Club; The Breeders’ Cup; New York Racing Association, which operates The Belmont Stakes; Pimlico Racetrack, which operates The Preakness Stakes; the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance; the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization; U.S. Harness Racing Alumni Association; Claiborne Farm; Stone Farm, where three Kentucky Derby winners were raised; Crawford Farms; West Point Thoroughbreds; Nick Zito; Pin Oak Stud; the Texas State Horse Council; Winterstone Pictures; and the Horses for Life Foundation; and the Center for a Humane Economy, to name a few.

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