A letter from Sen. Obama regarding US Horse Slaughter Bill

[astonamous]

"Dear Beth:

Thank you for relaying your strong opposition to the commercial
slaughter of horses and support for the American Horse Slaughter
Prevention Act (S. 1915). This is a legitimate concern that
deserves the attention of the nation's lawmakers.

Late last year, Congress made it clear that it does not support the
commercial sale of horse meat abroad. During Senate consideration of
the annual appropriations bill funding the operations of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and
Robert Byrd (D-WV) offered an amendment to prohibit federal funding
of food safety inspections at horse slaughterhouses in the United
States, thereby effectively blocking the export of horse meat
abroad. The amendment, which I voted for, passed the Senate by a
vote of 68 to 29 and was eventually enacted into law.

In response, however, the USDA recently announced that it will
continue performing inspections at horse slaughterhouses by charging
the slaughterhouse companies a fee-for-service beginning March 10,
2006. I view this initiative by the Administration as nothing more
than a brazen maneuver to circumvent the clear intent of Congress.

In my view, we have two objectives to pursue this session of
Congress. First, I stand ready to support Senator Ensign and Byrd in
their ongoing effort to insist that USDA stop the inspection of
horse meat for export. Second, Congress should also turn its
attention to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S.1915), a
bill authored by Senator Ensign that would prohibit the shipping,
transporting, purchasing, selling or donation of horses to be
slaughtered for human consumption, and S. 576, a bill authored by
Senator Byrd, that would restore the prohibition on the commercial
sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros.

S. 1915 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation. S. 576, of which I am a cosponsor, was
referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Resources. While I
am not a member of either panel, I will continue to encourage my
colleagues who do serve on these committees to undertake timely
consideration of these proposals.

Again, thank you for contacting me about the need for federal action
on the horse slaughter issue. Please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

P.S. Our system does not allow direct response to this email.
However, if you would like to contact me again, please use the form
on the website: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/"


Here is a video clip from Willie Nelson, Bo Derek, Jennifer Lee Pryor and Morgan Fairchild.

http://www.saplonline.org/vids/latest_willie_video.htm

Something you can do to help save the horses from a horrible ride to a horrible death. American horses are not meant for human consumption in other countries.

http://www.saplonline.org/Alerts/020806.htm

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I don't get what the issue here is - is it uninspected horse meat

going out of country? Or that people just don't want the government to pay the bill for food inspection? Or is it saplonline doesn't think that horses should be eaten at all? Or is this about slaughtering wild horses to get them out of the wild?


I've never heard of this before - I didn't even know that horses are being slaughtered in the US for food. And reading the one link you gave doesn't offer the full picture of what they're protesting/upset about.

Can you clarify, please?

[astonamous]

3. Here is a better explaination of the issue

http://www.saplonline.org/horses.htm

I was going to try to rewrite all this, but I think the link pretty much explains it all.

I think the main thing is that American horses are being slaughtered in slaughter houses right here in the US. We are trying to take this one step at a time to eventually stop the slaughter, close the slaughter houses down and thus protect the wild horses which are also at risk.

Every time a bill goes through, we seem to have "won" then some other agency comes in and adds one more hurdle to get over. This time it is the USDA and inspections.

My goal is to protect what is left of the wild horses in this country. To me they are the symbol of freedom. So I am writing letters and making phone calls and emails and faxes in order to support this cause as it will affect the outcome for the wild horses.

Thanks for your reply and I hope I cleared that up a bit for everyone.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Hmm. Interesting. While I see nothing wrong with eating horses,

humans have been eating them for thousands of years, I certainly would support legislation asking for regulation of the slaughterhouses and more humane treatment, and legislation protecting wild horses, other than the occasional herd thinning which will surely become necessary at some point.

I can't be in support of a bill that disallow the slaughter of horses for food entirely, though. There's nothing wrong with eating horsemeat, from a meat-eating standpoint. Certainly, from a vegetarian standpoint it makes sense to be against it; but from a meat-eating standpoint, the position is undefensible.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Thanks. I'm glad that your Senator responded, I'm still waiting for

responses from mine.

[ecoalex]

4. Most Slaughter Horses go to Quebeck Canada, then to Europe DUH

Where are old , and other horses supposed to go, a Horse rest home, then a decent burial? Get Real

[astonamous]

7. Where did the old and sick horses go before humans

started trucking them across country in poorly ventilated trailers, without food and water, stacked three deep?

Old and sick horses aren't the ones that are being bought for human consumption in Europe. DUH! Old and sick horses are slaughtered for dog food, if you don't care about your dogs, you feed them that.

And 90,000 horses were slaughtered in the three operating slaughter facilities in Texas and Illinois.

[Beaverhausen]

5. Excellent!

Good for you, Senator Obama!

[astonamous]

8. He's been helping this cause all along and I think we can count

on his continued support based on his response.