U.S. Rep. Gary Peters Statement on the King Amendment Being Removed from the Farm Bill

Press Release

Today, U.S. Representative Gary Peters (D-MI) released the following statement after the Farm Bill Conference Report was filed without the King Amendment included. In August of 2013, Rep. Peters and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) led a bipartisan letter to the leadership of the Agriculture Committee urging removal of the problematic King Amendment. The letter was signed by 166 House members and 23 Senators:

Peters said: "Animal protection is very important to folks in Michigan and when our state passes legislation regulating agricultural production or promoting animal welfare, the federal government should not undermine these duly-enacted provisions."

The King Amendment, introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) would have invalidated hundreds of state and local laws setting standards for animal welfare and agriculture practices. When the House passed its version of the Farm Bill on July 11, 2013, the King Amendment was included. The Senate's version did not include a similar provision that would nullify state's animal welfare regulations The Peters-Schrader letter was written to urge Senate and House leaders to not include the harmful King Amendment in the conference committee's final version.

"The dangerous King amendment could have nullified hundreds of state laws on animal welfare, food safety, and other important issues," said Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. "We are grateful to Congressman Peters for his work with his colleagues to keep this federal overreach out of the Farm Bill and to help defend the rights of Michigan and other states to protect the public health and safety of their citizens."

Rep. Peters is a strong advocate of animal welfare and has been a proponent of laws that strengthen animal protection since his election to Congress. He has received a perfect, 100% score from the Humane Society of the United States for his work in Congress every year he has served. Each year, the Humane Society Legislative Fund compiles a federal Humane Scorecard to provide a snapshot of animal protection issues considered by the U.S. Congress and give animal advocates a tool to assess the performance of their Senators and Representatives.

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