Just two days after yet another Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) whistleblower came forward with evidence of dog abuse and waste in a VA dog laboratory, Congress has unanimously passed a WCW-supported bipartisan amendment that defunds painful taxpayer-funded dog experiments at the VA. The amendment is part of a federal spending package that is expected to pass the House this week. The bill will then be taken up by the Senate. The Washington Examiner, Daily Caller, WRIC, Virginia Public Radio, and others covered the big development. 

The defund amendment–which was prompted by WCW’s exposés of VA dog labs in Cleveland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Richmond–was introduced by Reps. Dave Brat (R-VA) and Dina Titus (D-NV) and was co-sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Brian Mast (R-FL) and Ted Poe (R-TX).

Watch Rep. Brat’s compelling testimony below and read his media statement:

In a statement, White Coat Waste president Anthony Bellotti told reporters:

We applaud Reps. Brat and Titus and the House of Representatives for taking bold, bipartisan action to defund nightmarish dog abuse and restore accountability at the VA. Liberty-lovers, animal-lovers, soldiers and veterans across the country are sick and tired of being forced to pay for painful, noncompliant and wasteful VA experiments on puppies that were exposed by White Coat Waste Project. We’ll continue working with Congress to get this bill to the President’s desk and to pass the PUPPERS Act to end the VA’s painful taxpayer-funded dog experiments for good.

The amendment language–which if signed into law would apply for 2018–is similar to the PUPPERS Act, a bipartisan standalone Reps. Brat and Titus introduced earlier this month to permanently end taxpayer-funded dog experiments at the VA.