WASHINGTON (July 5, 2018)—Today the Humane Society Legislative Fund, the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal welfare, announced its endorsement of Rep. Matt Gaetz for Florida’s 1st Congressional District.
Rep. Gaetz is a co-leader of the Voluntary Checkoff Program Participation Act. Checkoff programs are mandatory fees imposed on farmers that provide hundreds of millions of dollars to opponents of the humane treatment of animals. He is also the Republican lead on the Chemical Poisons Reduction Act to prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s use of highly toxic and indiscriminate poisons in its predator control programs. He has spoken out against cruel and outdated animal toxicity testing conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, and led the charge to cut funding for such activities while maintaining funding for the development of alternatives.
“Matt Gaetz is a trailblazer for animals in the U.S. Congress,” said Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “Congressman Gaetz is fighting to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to harm animals, and western Panhandle voters should re-elect him.”
Among his other efforts in the 115th Congress, Rep. Gaetz has:
- Voted for an amendment (H.Amdmt. 630) to the Farm Bill to clarify that federal prohibitions against dogfighting and cockfighting activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce apply to all U.S. jurisdictions, including the U.S. territories.
- Cosponsored the Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act (H.R. 909) to protect the human and animal survivors of domestic violence and support the work of domestic violence shelters to accommodate pets.
- Cosponsored the Prevent Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act (H.R. 1494) to make malicious animal cruelty a crime on federal property and in interstate commerce, and complement the state anti-cruelty laws.
- Cosponsored the Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2790), to phase out the testing of cosmetics on live animals and the sale of newly animal-tested cosmetics.
- Cosponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act (H.R. 1456) to prohibit the trade of shark fins, for which sharks are hunted and their maimed bodies returned to the ocean.
- Cosponsored the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (H.R. 113) to prohibit the slaughter and export of horses for human consumption overseas.
- Cosponsored the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2017 (H.R. 1406) to prohibit the domestic slaughter, trade and import of dogs and cats for human consumption.
Media Contact: press@hslf.org
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HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.
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.
Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. HSLF, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 455, Washington, DC 20037.
