The Farm Bill conference report released today by the House-Senate conference committee includes two major wins on animal welfare issues, and was applauded by The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Legislative Fund. The compromise bill includes a provision making it a federal crime to attend or bring a child under the age of 16 to an animal fighting event, and omits a controversial House-passed provision seeking to nullify state laws setting standards for agricultural production.
“The conference committee produced a Farm Bill that will fortify the federal law against organized and barbaric dogfighting and cockfighting rings, and thankfully jettisoned the dangerous and overreaching King amendment which threatened so many state and local laws on agriculture and animal welfare,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. “The Farm Bill contains a dizzying number of provisions, but based on the outcome of these two critical issues on animal welfare, we will urge lawmakers to enact it.”
Media Contact: Anna West: 240-751-2669; awest@humanesociety.org
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The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Visit us on all our channels: on the web at hslf.org, on our blog at animalsandpolitics.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/humanelegislation and on Twitter at twitter.com/HSLegFund.
