Animals deserve protection from cruelty

There are too few issues on Capitol Hill today that a majority of Democrats and Republicans can get behind, but stopping animal cruelty is one of them.

We served in the House for 26 years and 24 years respectively – a combined half-century of legislating. Although we disagreed on many issues, we found that we could almost always agree on enhancing legal protections for animals. We’re proud to have worked together to ban grotesque “animal crush” videos, strengthen federal animal fighting laws, and defund inspections that allow the predatory horse slaughter industry to operate.

{mosads}These reforms were not just about doing right by animals – they were about doing right by our constituents. Too often animal cruelty goes hand in hand with human violence. A study by the Chicago Police Department found that 65 percent of people arrested for animal crimes had previously been arrested for battery against another person. Another study found that animal abuse was occurring in a shocking 88 percent of families that were under supervision for child abuse.

That’s why we’re joining together to urge members of both parties to support increased legal protections for animals. In particular, we urge this chamber to enact the following common-sense bills to prevent cruelty to animals:

• The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act (H.R. 2293 and S. 1831) will complement the federal laws on animal fighting and crush videos by prohibiting extreme animal abuse that involves interstate commerce or occurs on federal property. The animal crush bill that we led in 2010 passed the House by an overwhelming 416 – 3 margin.
• The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R.3268 and S. 1121) will end the cruel practice of soring, in which unscrupulous trainers inflict pain on horses’ feet and legs to force them into an unnatural gait. In the last Congress, 60 senators and 308 representatives cosponsored this bill, and it’s quickly gaining the same broad bipartisan support in this Congress. It’s time to enact it.
• The Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act (H.R. 1258 and S. 1559) will amend the Violence Against Women Act to include protections for pets, and provide grants to domestic violence shelters to accommodate pets. Studies have found that an outrageous 71 percent to 83 percent of women entering domestic violence shelters reported that their partners also abused or killed the family pet. This is a necessary bill to ensure that abused women aren’t forced to choose between their safety and their pets.
• The Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2858) will phase out both the use of live animals in cosmetics testing and the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals – following the lead of more than 30 other countries. With some of America’s biggest cosmetics companies endorsing this bill, it’s time to embrace modern science instead of archaic animal tests for cosmetics.

These bills should not be controversial. All four of them enjoy the broad support of the American people and have original cosponsors from both parties. Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on this: animals deserve protections from cruelty and these four bills deserve to be enacted.

Gallegly served in the House from 1987 to 2013. Moran served in the House from 1991 to 2015.