Senate Appropriations Committee Votes to Block Domestic Horse Slaughter
Washington- The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted in favor of a provision that, if enacted into law, could halt any efforts to resume slaughtering horses for human consumption on U.S. soil. The amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill, which was offered by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and approved by the committee by voice vote, disallows spending by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on inspections at prospective horse slaughter plants in FY 2014, effectively preventing any from opening. An identical amendment was passed by the House Appropriations Committee last week.
A similar spending prohibition that was put in place in 2005 was not renewed in 2011, allowing for horse slaughter plants to reopen in the U.S. There are no horse slaughter facilities currently operating in the U.S., but USDA confirms it had received at least six applications from prospective abattoirs, and several are close to being approved.
