White Coat Waste Project is proud to announce the six recipients of our inaugural “Congressional Waste Warrior” awards for the 114^th Congress. The prize recognizes Members of Congress who have demonstrated outstanding leadership on critical efforts to expose and stop wasteful spending on unnecessary animal experimentation inside government laboratories. Recent polls show that a majority of Americans oppose animal experiments and want federal spending for them cut.

Our 2016 honorees, who will receive their trophies during private presentations, are:

SENATE

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ)

• • Authors the influential Waste Book, which this year documented 50 troubling examples of outrageous and bizarre federal spending including projects forcing hamsters to fight and running fish on treadmills.
  • Cosponsored the Senate chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and is designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

• Introduced an amendment to the FY17 defense spending bill requesting a study of financial and educational benefits of using modern and cost-effective human simulation to replace millions spent annually to shoot animals for outdated military medic training. For years, Sen. Blumenthal has led this effort, and it is now endorsed by the New York Times
• Original cosponsor of the AWARE Act to prevent abuse and waste in animal laboratories at the USDA following a New York Times expose of the Meat Animal Research Center
• Cosponsored the Senate chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and is designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others

HOUSE
Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA)

• Hosted a briefing on secretive and wasteful dog experiments in federal laboratories, including at the Pentagon, on whose funding committee he serves
• Hosted a briefing on the need to increase use of faster, cheaper and more effective alternatives to animal tests at federal agencies
• Signed a letter to the DOD urging it to replace unnecessary and expensive animal use for military medic training with superior and cost-effective human simulators
• Voted for the chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and is designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others

Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA)

• Sent a letter to Labor-HHS Appropriations Chairman urging closer scrutiny of NIH spending on wasteful animal experiments
• Hosted the “High-Tech Health Expo” to promote small businesses producing modern and cost-effective alternatives to animal testing now in high demand by federal agencies
• Cosponsored the BEST Practices Act to replace unnecessary and expensive animal use for military medic training with superior and cost-effective human simulators
• Voted for the chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and is designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)

• Led a successful effort that ended a wasteful multi-million dollar psychological experiments on baby monkeys at a National Institutes of Health laboratory in Maryland
• Led successful effort to defund federal licensing of “random source” animal dealers that often illegally sold lost and stolen dogs and cats to laboratories, calling oversight of these serially-abusive companies an “unjustifiable drain” on taxpayers’ resources
• Advocated to expedite retirement of NIH-owned chimpanzees, which will save taxpayers millions of dollars
• Cosponsored the BEST Practices Act to replace expensive and unnecessary animal use for military medic training with superior and cost-effective human simulators
• Voted for the chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and is designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others
• Cosponsored the AWARE Act to prevent abuse and waste in animal laboratories at the USDA following a New York Times expose of the Meat Animal Research Center

Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV)

• Led a successful effort that ended a wasteful multi-million dollar psychological experiments on baby monkeys at a National Institutes of Health laboratory in Maryland
• Hosted a briefing on secretive and wasteful dog experiments in federal laboratories, including at the Department of Veterans Affairs on whose oversight committee she serves
• Cosponsored the BEST Practices Act to replace expensive and unnecessary animal use for military medic training with superior and cost-effective human simulators
• Voted for the chemical testing reform bill that was signed into law and successfully fought for inclusion of language designed to prevent expensive, slow and unnecessary tests on millions of animals by EPA and others
• Cosponsored the AWARE Act to prevent abuse and waste in animal laboratories at the USDA following a New York Times expose of the Meat Animal Research Center

We are also pleased to present our “Accountability All-Star” awards to exceptional Congressional staffers who have contributed significantly to efforts to expose and end wasteful animal experiments. The awardees are:

• Elizabeth Decker (Legislative Assistant, Rep. Dina Titus)
• Debbie Jessup (Health Policy Advisor, Rep. Roybal-Allard)
• Molly Lowe (Legislative Assistant, Rep. Ken Calvert)
• Matt Powell (Legislative Assistant, Rep. Tom Marino)
• Kyle Roerink (Communications Director, Rep. Dina Titus)

Please urge your Members of Congress to join these leaders’ efforts to end wasteful taxpayer-funded animal experiments.