Senate Committee Blocks Domestic Horse Slaughter

Edited press release

WASHINGTON (May 22, 2014) —The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted in favor of a provision that would prevent any efforts to resume slaughtering horses for human consumption on U.S. soil. The amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill, offered by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and approved by the committee 18-12, disallows spending by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in FY 2015 on inspections at prospective horse slaughter plants. The President’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year included a provision to block these inspections.

A similar spending prohibition in the FY 2014 omnibus spending bill temporarily halted attempts by horse slaughter proponents to open plants in New Mexico, Iowa and Missouri.