Animal Wellness Action: Winning for Animals in the 117th Congress

Until recent weeks, the 117th Congress hasn’t been very productive in the wake of January 6, a new Administration getting settled in amidst the pandemic, and the most polarizing political climate we’ve ever seen.

In general, and no matter which party is in the majority, Congress has a longstanding pattern of kicking the can down the road on most issues and waiting until the very last minute when a crisis emerges to take action, leaving one ‘cliffhanger’ after another, as one House Member said to us a few days ago.

We’ve seen a prime example of that this week with issues surrounding baby formula and infants in need. When it comes to humans, and life or death situations, Congress generally pulls through at the last minute, as they did this week with the House passage of a $28 million dollar funding bill to lift some of the burden for young families, mothers, and their infants in need.

Unfortunately, the animals we care so deeply about aren’t always so lucky.

A perfect example is Congress’ failure to move the most widely supported equine reforms in the country that would better protect these majestic creatures revered and beloved by the American people, and who played a critical role in our nation’s history and culture. We’ve seen legislation to end horse slaughter and stop the trade in horse meat for human consumption, as well as the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act to end horse soring, dangle in the wind for a decade or more. That’s because there’s usually one or more – often a cluster – of legislators opposed to most animal welfare reforms. In the case of PAST it's most of the Tennessee and Kentucky Congressional Delegations, and in the case of SAFE, it's a few of the Western Republicans in the House, crying wolf about the alleged "slippery slope."

These anti-animal, pro-Big Ag lawmakers continue to work on keeping American horse meat on the table in countries like China and Japan. Likewise, western legislators from states like Wyoming and Utah, serving the interests of powerful and wealthy corporate livestock grazing interests, continue to push for the eradication of our iconic American wild horses and burros, which evolved and have been thriving on western rangelands since time immemorial. This inaction is in spite of concerted action by millions of Americans who have for years pleaded for measures that will protect American equines both wild and domesticated from cruelty, persecution, and exploitation.

But Animal Wellness Action (AWA) has worked with partners in both industry and the animal protection space to set a realistic agenda that could see as many as seven animal measures enacted under the right circumstances.

And here’s a list of the measures that still stand a chance.

Animal Testing

Conceived by AWA, the Center for a Humane Economy, and Michelson Center for Public Policy, the first is ironically a new piece of legislation introduced in 2021 by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Elaine Luria, D-Va., in the House and Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and John Kennedy, R-La., in the Senate. With roughly 80 cosponsors in the chamber closest to the American people, split nearly evenly between the parties, and equally split in the Senate as well, the bipartisan FDA Modernization Act would repeal a 1938, Depression-era statute that requires animal testing for all new drugs approved by the FDA.

Big Cats

Second, the Big Cat Public Safety Act led by Reps. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. in the House, along with Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the Senate, just saw a House hearing last week in which Sheriff Matt Lutz of Ohio testified in support of the measure on behalf of the law enforcement community that backs the bill to end the private ownership of tigers, lions, and other large felines, that have frequently posed a dangerous threat to humans in suburban communities like Zanesville, Ohio, where Sheriff Lutz had to deal with a terrible situation some years ago that saw more than 50 big cats and other caged wild animals unleashed on people in suburbia by their deranged owner.

Ban on Shark Finning

The America COMPETES Act that passed both the House and Senate in different versions this Congress, is now amidst a conference committee where legislators are working out the differences. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Tex., Delegate Gregario Sablan, D-Mariana Islands, and Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.Y., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., successfully secured the inclusion of the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act to end the trade in shark fins used in Traditional Chinese Medicine in both the House and Senate versions of COMPETES and should easily stick in the final package that’ll hopefully be signed into law this Fall.

Wildlife ‘Wet’ Markets

The COMPETES Act also includes portions of the Preventing Future Pandemics Act led by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Tex., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Quigley, and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., that would establish mechanisms in the federal government to address global public health risks posed by wildlife markets like the one in Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 pandemic was likely spawned. Unsanitary conditions, and the consumption of exotic meats like bats, monkeys, and pangolins, create the perfect conditions for the next zoonotic disease to jump the species barrier.

Sunsetting Mink Farming in the U.S.

The House version of COMPETES includes the AWA-conceived MINKS Are Superspreaders Act championed by House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. to bring an end to mink farming in the U.S. Mink farms have proven to be superspeaders of COVID and have spawned at least five new variants of the virus in the U.S. and around the globe. Unfortunately, longtime anti-animal Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, and his Democrat counterpart Tammy Baldwin, passed a Senate Motion to Instruct the Conferees (the legislators working to marry the House and Senate bills) to strip out the MINKS Act, as they pander to the last remaining mink farmers in the U.S. who are producing pelts solely for the purpose of clothing the Chinese elite with luxury garments – putting our entire nation in a situation that risks millions of lives and trillions of dollars. We’re working hard to keep the MINKS Act in the legislation, but it promises to be an uphill battle.

Preventing Bear Poaching

The Bear Poaching Elimination/Bear Protection Act, led by Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Rodney Davis, R-Ill., along with Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., would ban the trade in bear gallbladders to supply Asian folk medicine markets, passed the Senate twice by Unanimous Consent two decades ago when Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell led the bill, but it failed to pass the House due to opposition from the recently deceased Rep. Don Young of Alaska. With wildlife-friendly Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., now serving as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee that has jurisdiction over the legislation, it’s ripe for the picking.

Enabling the Dept. of Justice to Better Enforce Existing Laws

Last but not least, the Animal Cruelty Enforcement (ACE) Act could pass as well. It’s a judiciary bill, and a sleeper that will likely soon see some action attached to larger sweeping legislation in the House, where the bill is championed by Reps. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., and David Joyce, R-Ohio, a former prosecutor well-known for cracking down against crime. The bill creates an Animal Cruelty Crimes Unit at the U.S. Dept. of Justice to enforce current anti-cockfighting and anti-cruelty laws on the books like the Horse Protection Act of 1970, the Animal Welfare Act, and the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act that AWA worked to enact in 2019.

We recognize that several of these bills won’t make the final cut. On the other hand, there are unique strategies we’ve been carefully planning to get the bear bill and ACE Act passed, but they’ll take some maneuvering, and we’ll have to overcome some opposition from Big Humane Groups who want to maintain the status quo so they can milk their donors for years to come.

We’re committed to working around the clock to score wins for animals, and we hope you’ll join us at www.animalwellnessaction.org.

Marty Irby is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action in Washington, D.C., and one of The Hill's Top Lobbyists for 2019, 2020, and 2021, who was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work to protect animals. Follow him on Instagram @MartyIrby.