White Coat Waste Project is proud to announce the recipients of our annual “Congressional Waste Warrior” awards for 2017. As reported in Roll Call, this award recognizes members of Congress who have demonstrated outstanding leadership to expose and stop $15 billion in wasteful and unnecessary taxpayer-funded animal experiments, an effort that a majority of Americans support. Below are our 2017 honorees, who will receive their awards during private presentations.
SENATE
Senator Dean Heller (R-NV)

- Leading Senate efforts to improve oversight of the federal program charged with promoting the use of superior, cost-efficient alternatives to wasteful animal tests
- Co-sponsoring the BEST Practices Act to end wasteful military medical training drills that involve shooting, stabbing and blowing up animals and that the Pentagon reports are “outdated and cost-prohibitive.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
- Successfully secured a federal audit of spending transparency failures exposed by WCW at National Institutes of Health-funded animal laboratories
- Introduced legislation, the BASIC Research Act, to appoint a taxpayer advocate to all review panels for federal research grants
- Continued to release his influential Waste Reports documenting dozens of troubling examples of outrageous and bizarre federal spending
HOUSE
Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA)

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL)
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) 
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) 
- Cosponsored the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Co-led and passed legislation to de-fund the VA’s most painful dog experiments
- Gave a compelling speech on the floor of the House of Representatives about his efforts to end VA’s dog testing
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) 
- Cosponsored the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Met with WCW and a whistleblower from the Richmond VA who helped expose “maximum pain” experiments on dogs to discuss holding VA accountable and protecting whistleblowers
- Cosponsored the Federal Accountability in Chemical Testing (FACT) Act to improve oversight of the federal program charged with promoting the use of superior, cost-efficient alternatives to wasteful animal tests
Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) 
- Introduced the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Co-authored a New York Daily News op-ed condemning “maximum pain” dog experiments at the VA
- Sent a letter to the VA urging it to adopt out dogs from its labs to veterans
- Cosponsored the Federal Accountability in Chemical Testing (FACT) Act to improve oversight of the federal program charged with promoting the use of superior, cost-efficient alternatives to wasteful animal tests
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
- Introduced the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Cosponsored the Federal Accountability in Chemical Testing (FACT) Act to improve oversight of the federal program charged with promoting the use of superior, cost-efficient alternatives to wasteful animal tests
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) 
- Sent a letter to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) criticizing its plans for wasteful and cruel animal tests for so-called “abortion herbs”
- Cosponsored the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Cosponsored the Federal Accountability in Chemical Testing (FACT) Act to improve oversight of the federal program charged with promoting the use of superior, cost-efficient alternatives to wasteful animal tests
Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA) 
- Cosponsored the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Helped lead a successful effort to end deadly experiments on Dobermans at the Los Angeles VA
- Spoke at WCW’s “The Price is Wrong” Congressional briefing on wasteful government animal experiments
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) 
Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN)
- Cosponsored the bipartisan PUPPERS Act to end painful and wasteful dog experiments at the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Led a successful effort to secure a federal audit of government animal testing transparency and spending
- Released a video discussing his work to end VA’s dog experiments
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) 
- As the top Democrat on the committee that controls VA funding, she helped pass legislation to cut funding for the VA’s painful and wasteful dog experiments
- Gave a compelling speech on the floor of the House of Representatives about her efforts to end VA’s dog testing
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
- As the chairman of the committee that controls VA funding, he helped advance legislation to cut funding for the VA’s painful and wasteful dog experiments
If you haven’t yet, please urge your Members of Congress to join these leader’s efforts to end wasteful taxpayer-funded animal experiments.

Barbara comstock,
Brendan boyle,
Brian Mast,
Congressional Awards,
Dave Brat,
Dean Heller,
dog tests,
Matt Gaetz,
nanette barragan,
PUPPERS,
Rand Paul,
ted lieu
Thank You for taking action, this says everything about us as a society.?❤️
God bless you all for caring about animals.
Your work is OUTSTANDING and aside from Veritas the only groups who are MAKING GOVT accountable. To taxpayers. The kitten experiment is GROTESQUE. No Americans are dying from toxoplasmosis unless they sit around putting infected cat feces in their mouth. Most ppl get from BAD MEAT that they shouldn’t eat anyway. The slaughter of these kittens for DECADES is a CRIME. And WHAT about the poor mother cats they breed over and over? And themale cats who impregnate? Or do they ram artificially to impregnate? USDA is actively doing cruelty for NOTHING. We benefit NOTHING. Toxo is CURED with antibiotics. DUH. Thank you for exposing this HORROR.