Last June 8, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by an overwhelming 269-158 vote an amendment to the 2006 House Agriculture Appropriations Bill that would prohibit federal tax money from being used to slaughter horses, stopping the slaughter of horses in the US and their exportation for the purpose of slaughter for fiscal year 2006.

The amendment, introduced by Representatives John Sweeney (R-NY) and John Spratt (D-SC) together with their colleagues Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) would prohibit the USDA to use tax money to inspect horse meat and horses shipped for slaughter abroad at the US border, forcing the only three horse slaughterhouses remaining in the US to shut down and effectively stopping the exportation of American horses for slaughter for next fiscal year.

USDA inspections are mandatory to allow horse meat to be sold and to permit live horses bound for slaughter abroad to cross the U.S. border. Without them, the horse slaughter plants cannot sell the meat abroad and killer buyers will not be able to transport horses for slaughter across the border, thus stopping not only the slaughter of American horses but also preventing them from being shipped to be slaughtered in foreign countries.

Since it amends an annual appropriations bill, the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment would only stop horse slaughter for a year, in which it will be necessary to pass H.R. 503, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, a self-standing bill that will ban permanently the slaughter of horses in the US an their exportation for their exportation for slaughter.

The passage of the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment is of critical importance since it would pave the way for the passage of H.R. 503, preventing more horses from being killed.

A similar amendment introduced by Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) was passed by the Senate last September 20 and will be considered by a conference committee in the next days. Immediate action is need in order to ensure its passage. Read about the Ensign-Byrd Amendment.

See the actual amendment, House Amendment 236 of H.R. 2744.

How you can help
It is vital that this amendment is kept on the final version of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill when it is considered by the conference in the next days.

Please, contact the members of the conference committee and request them to support the Ensign-Byrd Amendment to prevent tax money from being spent on horse slaughter.

It is also very important to show our gratitude to the Representatives who voted for the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment and use the momentum we have to get their support for H.R. 503.

Please, contact the Representatives who voted for the amendment thanking them for their vote and request them to cosponsor H.R. 503. If a Representative is already cosponsoring H.R. 503, please thank him for it as well and ask him to keep his continued support for this legislation.

Download list of vote results on the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment.

You may also visit the Office of the Clerk website for an official list of vote results on the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment. An official list of the current cosponsors of H.R. 503 is available on the Library of Congress' THOMAS website.

Let them know that an overwhelmingly majority of Americans (over 80% according to polls) are opposed to horse slaughter. Tell them that according to the USDA, 92.3% of the horses slaughtered are in good or excellent condition and not old or sick as claims the foreign-owned horse slaughter industry. Let them know that horse slaughter promotes abuse and theft, that after California banned horse slaughter in 1998, horse theft decreased by 34% while abuse didn't increase as a result of the ban and that no reported increase in Illinois following closure of the state's only horse slaughter plant in 2002.

To find out who your Representative is, visit Contacting Congress or Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL).

The best way to contact legislators is by phone and by fax, emails are also a good way to contact Congressmen.

You can find facts about horse slaughter to use as talking points in support of the amendment on the SAPL and NHPC websites.

It is also very important as well to get the word out about these legislations. Tell everybody you know about H.R. 503 and the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment and ask them to contact the Congressmen who voted for it thanking them for their support and urging them to cosponsor H.R. 503.

Additional information on the Sweeney-Spratt Amendment
NHPC News and alerts
SAPL Press release

Slaughter is not humane euthanasia
View pdf

Background Information on Horse Slaughter
http://www.horse-protection.org
http://www.saplonline.org/horses.htm
http://www.justsaywhoa.org

Join the Yahoo Group
The Against Horse Slaughter Yahoo group is fighting daily to win support for H.R. 503. Join now!

You can also join us on the Habitat for Horses Members' Against Horse Slaughter forum.