Yes, you did read that correctly.
No, I am not making this up.
I am sick over this. I just cannot believe it.
Seventy percent of the population is against such a law, and despite a 2008 campaign promise to support the equine slaughter ban, it is now legal to slaughter horses for human consumption.
What or WHO is going to be next on the table?
Honestly, I am too sick about this to even write that much here. Did the president think the path to a second term was going to be a cinch? He must have since he's not worried about the huge numbers who are now going to be royally pissed off.
I certainly know many folks who now may be sitting home when it comes time to vote for our next president.
The Animal Law Coalition does a fine job of detailing this travesty.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have now approved the Conference Committee report on H.R. 2112, the bill that, in part, determines agriculture appropriations for FY 2012. President Barack Obama immediately signed the measure, making commercial horse slaughter legal once again in the U.S.
Conference Committee Chair Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) voted to reject de-funding of inspections for equines for slaughter for human consumption. Only Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) voted to support continued de-funding of the inspections.
Without de-funding or prohibition of the inspections, commercial horse slaughter for human consumption is legal in the U.S.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced the amendment to the House version of the bill that would have continued the de-funding of inspections for equines sent to slaughter for human consumption. Without the inspections which have been de-funded or prohibited since 2006, commercial horse slaughter has been illegal and would have remained so with the Moran amendment. But the Senate version did not include such an amendment, and the conference committee and, in particular, the chair persons, appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate version, rejected de-funding.
It is hard to believe that the DEMOCRATIC committee chair voted to reject the de-funding. I know that Rep. Moran is trying to revive this issue as it is one that clearly did not get enough media coverage.
"I am committed to doing everything in my power to prevent the resumption of horse slaughter and will force Congress to debate this important policy in an open, democratic manner at every opportunity. Now, more than ever, it is crucial that Congress pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 2966) to permanently prohibit the slaughter of American horses."
Update: Two issues. First, in looking at the comments, I do not think folks are getting to my true intent. The fact that such a huge majority of the population is against this law is really the issue. You never know what comes into play when people are deciding who to vote for or whether to even cast a vote.
This is getting much play on Facebook and I got some good feedback that relates more to what actually occurred here. From a friend named Donna:
"This was one clause in an 80 page bill, which CONGRESS passed with an veto proof majority and signing it was necessary to keep lots of necessary programs funded (like the USDA), it also does not provide any funds for USDA inspection of horse meat facilities without which the meat cannot be sold in the US for human consumption, so actually nothing will really change. It's just more politics as usual..... Again, it's congresses bill and it's just pork that some special interest group got a senator or congressman to sneak into an important bill which needed to be passed for important programs to be funded...... Not the Presidents idea.... If you want to do something constructive about it, find out who put the amendment into the bill and lobby to have it removed."