News Release

WASHINGTON - The Agriculture Appropriations Conference Committee Wednesday approved an amendment by U.S. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) that bars federal funds from being used to facilitate the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Spratt, along with Reps. John Sweeney (R-NY), Edward Whitfield (R-KY) and Nick Rahall (D-WVA) successfully attached the measure to the House Agriculture Appropriations bill in June by a vote of 269-158. The same amendment, sponsored by Sens. John Ensign (R-NV) and Robert Byrd (D-WVA), passed the Senate in September by a vote of 69-28.

"If you've grown up with horses, you find that they're as close to human as you can get,” Spratt said.

The amendment eliminates funding for federal inspection of horse meat.  Without inspection, it is unlikely that slaughterhouses, operating in Texas and Illinois, could continue to sell horse meat to customers at meat markets and restaurants in Europe and Asia.

Because the Agriculture Appropriations Act is an annual spending bill, the amendment will only halt horse slaughter for one fiscal year.  “However,” said Spratt, “passage of this amendment suggests that support for a permanent ban is solid.”

Spratt and the other amendment sponsors introduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act in the House this year and last. It has won public support and the co-sponsorship of over half the House.  The bill will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption and stop the sale, possession, and trade of horsemeat.  It will also impose penalties on violators.  The bill does not prohibit euthanasia, or putting down old, sick, and disabled horses.

Spratt said that an estimated 65,000 horses are slaughtered each year, many at slaughterhouses where they are sent without food or water, and killed without sedation.

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