Horse Slaughter in the U.S. - A Crying Shame - 2007 Federal Anti-Slaughter Bills Pending

2007 Federal Anti-Slaughter Bills Pending

Introduced January 5, 2007:

HR 249 - A bill to ban the commercial slaughter of wild horses
by Representatives Nick Rayhall (D-WV) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY).

Introduced January 17, 2007:

S 311- the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. Bans the slaughter of horses in the United States. Causes it to be illegal to transport horses to other countries for purposes of slaughter.
by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and John Ensign (R- NV) with 12 original co-sponsors.

*Note: the Senate consists of 100 members.

Introduced January 17, 2007:

HR 503- Companion bill to S 311
by Representatives Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), John Spratt (D-SC), Nick Rahall (D- WV), with 62 original co-sponsors.

*Note: the House consists of 435 members.

A bill is introduced into the House of Representatives and to the Senate. Usually, each one has language just a tad bit different from the other. These two bills are called, "companion bills". Bills sit in Committee until they go to the Senate or House floor. A bill must be approved (passed by popular vote) in both the Senate and the House before it can advance to the desk of the President (or Governor in the case of state laws) to be signed, or not (vetoed). Before going to the President's desk, however, the two companion bills go back to Committee so that the language in both bills can be adjusted to be the exact same.

A bill can get trapped in Committee any time it is "in Committee", and this has been our biggest problem for the past several years.

Links to help explain the path of a bill:
Schoolhouse Rock, "I'm Just A Bill" http://www.school-house-rock.com/Bill.html
Lexisnexis flowchart http://www.lexisnexis.com/help/CU/The_Legislative_Process/How_a_Bill_Becomes_Law.htm

Actually, anyone can write a bill, but it helps if you are familiar with legal terminology, which is really the only way your bill will make sense, so most people don't try this at home. Even so, all bills have to be introduced by a member of the House or Senate, depending on what branch of government they are written for. "Co-sponsors" are representatives who have pledged to vote in favor of the bill if/when it makes it to the floor for a vote. Representatives can withdraw sponsorship at any time. "Original co-sponsors" are representatives who make said pledge prior to the bill being introduced, as opposed to "co-sponsors", who sign on at any time between the time the bill is introduced and the time it makes it to the floor for a vote.

As you can see, our side is weak in the Senate compared to the House, where HR 503 passed in 2006 by a vote of 263 to 146 in favor of passage. For some suspicious reason, the Senate companion bill was mixed up and never made it to the Senate floor for a vote before the year ran out, therefore, we had to start again in 2007, as both companion bills must pass both the Senate and the House in the same congressional session (calendar year).

What you can do to help get these bills passed into law:
Write letters, send faxes, and/or make phone calls to your congressional representatives. Indiana Horse Rescue has a sample letter as well as all contact information for your representatives, including notations, which tell you where your representative currently stands on HR 203 and S 311.

A few facts to consider when contacting your representatives:

Your representative's Congressional Aide will receive your communication. If he or she finds it remarkable, he/she may show it to your representative. He/she may merely report the number of comments said representative has received on said issue.
Always ask for a reply from your representative, unless you are thanking them for their support.
Representative and Aides all work closely together. Most of them know each other. When they get together, they sometimes talk about current pending legislation. Some representatives can be swayed if they find out a friend of theirs or someone they respect is going co-sponsoring a piece of legislation. Others may be swayed by the popularity of a bill, even if it is only enough to pay more attention to what his or her constituents are saying about it. "Constituents" are you, the voters they represent.
Form letters are not appreciated, so always make noticeable changes in the first part of your form letter, and try to use your own wording as often as possible. A form letter comes from an Internet template/model letter.
Petitions are the least effective means of recruiting co-sponsors. In fact, most representatives ignore them entirely.
Remember that our biggest roadblock at this time is the overpopulation myth. Our representatives want to represent us (for the most part), but they are cautious because so many letters are emotional and pay no attention to the practical side of ending horse slaughter.
Do Not obtain your information from an e-mail list! USESR keeps track of many Internet e-mail lists dedicated to horse slaughter and there is misinformation on almost every one of them. If you learn about something on an e-mail list, ALWAYS ask for sources so that you can verify the facts before you speak in error and compromise your/our side's credibility. If something is accurate, a web search will locate it on the pages of a reputable equine rescue website. Everything we know about horse slaughter is on the Web, on various Internet web pages.

Letters to the Editor are one of the most effective ways of getting your representative's attention. Each time a representative's name is mentioned in a published Letter to the Editor, that Letter is faxed to said representative's office, where named representatives in the Letter personally view it. Our representatives are concerned with Letters to the Editor because such a large constituency sees them.

Capitol Hill insiders tell us that one of the most effective ways of getting your point across is to meet with your representative in person. Our representatives have local offices in their home states. Call and set an appointment with yours. Bring written documentation, which you can leave with him/her. Allow him/her to ask questions, and NEVER interrupt him/her. If you are asked a question that you do not know the answer to, reply that you do not know, but will find out and get back to him/her with the answer. You can 'get back to' him/her via phone, fax, letter, or e-mail. Mention in said message that you are replying to a question he/she asked you during your visit with him/her on such-and-such date, so the Aide will be make sure he/she sees it or has the opportunity to speak with you directly (in the case of a phone call, which doesn't leave a paper trail for reference, so is not the best way to follow up on an unanswered question).