Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Nebraska. Mr. Chairman, I do want to clarify for the record that this amendment is not about tax dollars. This amendment is about adjusting some policy that was put into an appropriations bill some time ago, long before the current makeup of Congress. We are talking about a fee-for-service scenario that would allow the private sector to ensure that there is safe, affordable horse meat to the general public, to a market overseas that is very robust.

Let me also say that a GAO study on the effects of horse slaughter plant closings on the welfare of horses and on the farm economy as a whole was requested by the Senate Ag Appropriations Committee more than a year and a half ago, and is overdue for a report.

The devastated horse industry continues to be attacked by misinformation, and we certainly have a problem here because I would allege that the economics of the ownership of horses are upside down. Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, the result of this misguided campaign will eventually be a Nation where very few can even afford to own a horse. Without a secondary market, the value of horses at every level has plunged. Fewer horses mean fewer jobs, fewer horse trailers sold, fewer veterinary service dollars spent, fewer saddles sold--and the list continues.

Destroying the U.S. horse industry closed the U.S. to a very robust global market and gave other countries this economic opportunity. With the ability to ethically produce horse meat under regulated, humane conditions in the United States, we would almost immediately create jobs and minimize suffering.

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