Photo taken at RTF’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary by Matt Dusig.
Help us keep the momentum going!
The House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a markup on the Save America’s Forgotten Equine (SAFE) Act at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday. (To watch the hearing, click here.)
The SAFE Act (H.R. 3355) would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States as well as the export of American horses for slaughter.
A markup is when the committee debates, amends and votes on legislation before the committee before sending it to the floor for a vote by the full House.
We need to get the bill to the floor as soon as possible.
Here’s how you can help:
Please call your representative at (202) 224-3121 and urge him or her to call for a House vote on the SAFE Act (H.R. 3355) to ban horse slaughter as soon as possible.
If you’re unsure who your representative is, please click here.
RTF is grateful to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) for his leadership. We urge him to help bring the bill up for a vote in the House as soon as possible.
RTF thanks the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and ranking member, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL. Schakowsky and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) are the bill’s sponsors.
We’re also grateful for our advocacy team, including our Capitol Hill lobbyist, for their efforts, as well as all of you who’ve been writing and calling Congress! RTF has teamed with animal welfare groups and horse industry organizations in calling on lawmakers to pass the bill.
RTF and others have successfully lobbied for language in annual funding bills barring the U.S. Department of Agriculture from using tax dollars to hire horsemeat inspectors, effectively keeping horse slaughter plants closed in the United States on a year-to-year basis.
However, tens of thousands of American horses, both domestic and wild, continue to be shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, however — including 23,431 in 2021.
This ongoing tragedy is unacceptable and un-American.
It’s well past time for Congress to recognize the lasting connection that our country has had with the horse by acting now to end the slaughter of American horses.