Florida Republican Congressman Fights to End Slaughter of Horses for Human Consumption
By Kevin Derby, Sunshine State News // February 2, 2019
(SUNSHINE STATE NEWS) – U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., is continuing his fight to end slaughtering horses for human consumption in the U.S. and stop exporting horses to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.
This week, Buchanan brought back his “Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act” which he introduced in August 2017 and garnered 150 co-sponsors in the U.S. House. While the bill was not able to get over the finish line last time out, he did bring out an amendment to a government funding bill on the matter.
Buchanan’s amendment on horse slaughtering prevented the “reopening of horse slaughter facilities in the United States by prohibiting federal funding for health and safety inspections which is required by law at all meat processing plants.”The federal ban on horse slaughter was set to expire early in 2018 but Buchanan was able to bring the language of his amendment into the federal omnibus spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law in March.
This week, Buchanan and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., reintroduced the “SAFE Act.”
“Horses have a special place in our nation’s history, and these majestic creatures were not raised as food for humans,” Schakowsky said on Wednesday. “The SAFE Act would prohibit any horse slaughter plant from opening; and also end the sale or transport of horses and horse parts in the U.S. and abroad for the purpose of human consumption. I am proud to reintroduce this bill and work with Congressman Buchanan to put an end to this practice.”
“The slaughter of horses for human consumption is a barbaric practice that has no place in America,” Buchanan said. “I will continue to lead the effort with Congresswoman Schakowsky to ban domestic horse slaughter and end the export of horses abroad for slaughter.”
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