Two U.S. Representatives from southern California are sponsoring legislation that would force federal agencies to purchase meat only from sources that raised the animals free from cruelty and abuse.
Democrat Diane Watson and Republican Elton Gallegly introduced the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act to set a higher standard for food purchased by the federal government. Their bill requires that food purchased for federal programs come from animals raised with enough room to stand up, lie down, turn around and stretch their limbs.
American Farm Bureau lobbyist Mary Kay Thatcher says she doesn’t think the bill will go anywhere….
The good news is that the people that introduced it are on a little bit lower ranking in the scheme of things than the people that did before. And she doubts that there’ll be much activity this year on the federal level, Thatcher feels that HSUS will continue their focus on the state level.
HSUS - the Humane Society of the United States - praised the Watson-Gallegly proposal and encouraged Congress to act swiftly to pass it.
According to National Farmers Union lobbyist Chandler Goule - HSUS leaders don’t want their rank and file members to know what the organization is really up to. What your average American that isn’t in agriculture production does not understand is that HSUS is a $125-130- million dollar political machine and it has zero animals in it’s care. This is the other thing that I tells people when I go out to speak, you have all the grandmother’s and granddad’s that are donating money to HSUS think that they’re getting cats and dogs off their streets, when they’re not. They’re giving HSUS more ammunition to come into your state and regulate production agriculture. If you want to donate money to dogs and cats, give money to your local animal shelter.
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