UPDATE, July 24, 2020: Exciting news! Yesterday the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, with WCW-backed COST Act language in it. We’ll keep you posted as the bill makes its way through the legislative process.

Original post:

Despite what Lysol advertisements may tell you, nothing disinfects like sunlight. To this end, for years, we have been working to pass the COST Act and ensure anyone wasting your tax dollars on animal experiments discloses how much they’re spending. We just scored a major win in the “war on waste.”

How much money did the DoD spend getting animals addicted to cocaine or forcing pigs to run on treadmills? We don’t know, and that’s a problem. I’m working to increase transparency on Washington’s culture of waste and #MakeEmSqueal.https://t.co/HBPRocqwEo

— Joni Ernst (@joniernst) June 18, 2020

Thanks to advocacy from countless WCW advocates and leadership from WCW Waste Warrior awardee Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), the Senate Armed Services Committee just passed legislation requiring anyone receiving grant funding from the Department of Defense to publicly disclose any and all taxpayer dollars spent on wasteful animal experiments and other projects. The bill now moves to the full Senate for a vote.

See, the DOD doesn’t want you to know how much it wasted on recent projects like addicting animals to cocaine and alcohol, feeding animals high-fat diets to make them obese, and forcing pigs to run on treadmills.

Iowa taxpayers won a battle in the ‘War on Waste’ in this year’s defense bill. Through my efforts, we’ve made spending more transparent, curbed needless duplication, & we’re holding accountable, not rewarding, bad behavior and questionable actions by DoD. https://t.co/jxkREnfmd6

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) June 15, 2020

The language secured by Sen. Ernst in the 2021 defense spending bill–also known as the National Defense Authorization Act–closely mirrors her COST Act, which would apply this important spending disclosure measure across all government agencies.

Transparency is the only way to hold federal agencies and taxpayer-funded animal experimenters accountable for wasting money and abusing animals.

We will keep you posted on developments as the legislation moves through Congress.

Meantime, please tell Congress to pass the COST Act (S.807) to put a public price tag on all taxpayer-funded animal experiments.