11/19/2024
URGENT!!!!!!!!
November 18, 2024
https://www.akc.org/legislative-alerts/u-s-congress-new-senate-farm-bill-includes-dangerous-anti-breeder-proposals-take-action-now/
Please forward this important information to fellow club members and responsible dog owners.
Congress is back in Washington for the lame-duck session and working to quickly move major legislation, such as the Farm Bill, not completed before the election.
Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Stabenow (D-MI) released the Senate version of the federal farm bill, The Rural Prosperity and Security Act of 2024, for immediate consideration. Unlike its House counterpart, this bill contains harmful proposals from the Better CARE for Animals Act (H.R.5041/ Senate Bill 2555). Lobbyists for animal rights groups are actively pushing to advance these anti-breeder proposals.
Please respectfully call, email, or even leave a voice message for your U.S. Senators TODAY.
Ask them to OPPOSE problematic proposals in Senate Farm Bill section 12508.
Instead, ask them to SUPPORT the Committee-passed version of the House Farm Bill (HR 8467) with NO additional amendments related to dogs.
Thank you for making your voice heard today. Your action can help protect responsible breeders and purebred dogs.
Easy steps to contact your Senators:
Visit AKC’s Legislative Action Center legislator contact page at https://akcgr.org/officials and type in your address/ state to find the names and contact information for your U.S. Senators.
Explain you are a constituent. Respectfully share your experience and concerns as a dog owner/breeder/expert.
Ask them to OPPOSE problematic proposals in Senate Farm Bill section 12508. Instead, ask them to support the House Agriculture Committee-passed version of the House Farm Bill (HR 8467) with NO additional amendments related to dogs.
OPTIONAL: If you wish to be more specific, add the following details:
Ask your Senators to OPPOSE problematic proposals in Senate Farm Bill section 12508 including:
Expanding the jurisdiction of the Attorney General (AG) to enforce the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Section 20 of this measure gives the AG (DOJ) enforcement authority even beyond what is currently possessed by the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA). This memorializes animal rights/protection groups’ false narrative that conflates dog breeding with animal cruelty.
The Animal Welfare Act establishes licensing and regulation of breeders and other animal entities: It belongs under the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with its extensive experience in animal matters. Violations of licensing laws where no crime is committed is a matter for the USDA, not the Department of Justice. Current law, and a recent Memorandum of Understanding between the USDA and DOJ clarify that the Department of Agriculture can and does already work cooperatively with the DOJ in cases where a crime has been committed.
Sense of Congress that Federal Courts have authority over violations of the AWA. If Congress had intended the Dept of Justice to have this authority, it would have given it to them when the AWA was first written.
Allowing the Attorney General to seize any animal for any violation of the AWA or its existing or future regulations and standards–including paperwork violations—irrespective of any harm to the animal
Allowing penalties of $10,000, each day, per violation, for any violation of the AWA or its existing or future regulations and standards –including paperwork violations.
Rewards and incentive pay for any person (including unregulated entities)) caring for seized animals. This incentivizes seizure of animals from regulated entities with potential minor violations to be then placed in unregulated facilities. This not only compromises the welfare of the animals; in a case where a crime is suspected, lack of proper documentation, training and record keeping undermines the evidentiary chain of custody.
Ask them to oppose any added language from Better CARE for Animals Act and the Puppy Protection Act. These measures do nothing to improve the wellbeing of dogs, will create confusion in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), and undermine prioritizing proper care and conditions for dogs.
Remind your lawmakers that the House Agriculture Committee-passed version of the Farm Bill already contains:Additional resources for USDA to better enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)
Requires USDA to report to Congress on existing enforcement with recommendations on improving enforcement and enhancing educational programs and outreach.
Improves enforcement of the AWA by requiring any inspector finding unrelieved suffering by animals to report that immediately to local authorities who have jurisdiction over animal welfare in their communities.
Language from the Healthy Dog Importation Act, which addresses public health threats related to the import of unhealthy dogs into the U.S., without requiring that all dogs imported into the U.S. be a minimum of 6 months old.
Background
Learn more about the House - Committee passed version of the Farm Bill, HR 8467
Summary of ‘Better CARE for Animals Act’ (H.R.5041/ Senate Bill 2555)
Circumvents enforcement of dog breeder licensing under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and shifts authority to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This shift would move oversight authority from an agency staffed by animal experts that focuses on improving animal husbandry; and instead place it with one with little or no animal expertise that focuses on violations as potential federal crimes.
Empowers the DOJ to file charges, seize animals and impose penalties regardless of whether USDA has determined or even alleged that there has been a violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). (See Senate Farm Bill specifics in bullets above.)
Could potentially undermine or remove current exemptions from licensing for small hobby breeders, thereby requiring them to be licensed and comply with USDA standards for high volume commercial breeders that are not appropriate for hobbyists.
The American Kennel Club
