In March of this year–following advocacy by White Coat Waste Project, Congress and veterans–President Trump signed historic legislation defunding for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) painful and wasteful dog experimentation.

Now, WCW has uncovered that days after the defund was signed into law, the notorious Cleveland VA Medical Center spent $42,721 of taxpayers’ money to pre-order seven shipments of hound puppies as young as 9 months old.

VA orders more dogs for research days after Congress cuts funding for experimentshttps://t.co/dR6PSfIqxq pic.twitter.com/kS7HFpsOEF

— 8News WRIC Richmond (@8NEWS) August 9, 2018

The seven delivery dates for the ill-fated hound puppies range from June 2018 to April 2019. In a new letter to new VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, Congress members Dina Titus (D-NV) and Dave Brat (R-VA) write that they are “concerned these purchases may be prohibited” and “appear to be an attempt to circumvent anticipated FY19 funding restrictions on dog testing.”

Screenshot of the invoice for the Cleveland VA’s purchase of 21 puppies days after Congress cut funding for VA’s dog testing

This isn’t the Cleveland VA’s first scandal related to its experiments that involve damaging dogs’ spinal cords and collapsing their lungs. Last year, WCW uncovered how the facility killed “friendly,” “shy,” and “submissive” dogs that it told the media it “adopted out.”

WCW billboard placed outside of the Cleveland VA to coincide with Tax Week 2018.