“The Veterans Administration is doing things to cats that would land an individual in jail, and you’re paying for it.” –Nevada Current (8/13/20)

🚨 Well, they sure won’t be doing it much longer, if a new bipartisan WCW-backed bill becomes law!🚨 

Today, 21 members of Congress, led by Waste Warriors Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Army veteran Brian Mast (R-FL), introduced the Cat Abuse in Testing Stops Act (HR 8867)—known as the CATS Act— to permanently end wasteful, outdated, and painful taxpayer-funded testing on kittens and cats by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In other words: If this bill is enacted, the VA can’t keep purchasing, maiming, killing, and dissecting kittens and cats on your dime.

💥 Done. All over. No more.💥 Here’s what bill co-lead Rep. Mast said about the bill this morning:

Here’s why this bill is so urgently needed. Earlier this year, WCW uncovered proof that government white coats are using your tax money for purchasing, crippling, and killing dozens of healthy 6-month-old kittens and other cats in three secretive Department of Veterans Affairs cat labs in Cleveland, Louisville, and Los Angeles. We’ve even had to sue the VA for violating federal law by refusing to release related documents.

You don’t have to be a cat owner like I am to recognize that these practices are cruel. It’s time that we stop unnecessary and inhumane testing on kittens at the VA.https://t.co/CWGtlVR04L

— Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) December 10, 2020

As we explained in a blog on Alicia Silverstone’s website The Kind Life: Some kittens have “fake poop” shoved into their anuses. Some have remote control devices inserted into their bladders to make them urinate on demand. Others have holes drilled into their skulls, before their brains are removed. All the cats and kittens are killed at the end of their experiments.

These kittens need our help and we are paying for the harm… find out what you can do to help. 😿 #TheKindLife https://t.co/RBN901uSuE

— Alicia Silverstone (@AliciaSilv) October 22, 2020

WCW put up billboards near the Cleveland VA to expose its wasteful “catstipation” experiments to VA employees, staff, and other taxpayers who live near the laboratory.

A photo of one of the billboards White Coat Waste Project put up near the Cleveland VA targeting wasteful taxpayer-funded kitten constipation experiments.

Our investigation this summer prompted 30 bipartisan members of Congress—led again by Reps. Titus and Mast—to send a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie expressing their “grave concerns about painful and outdated cat testing at the Department of Veterans Affairs.” With the VA failing to provide any satisfactory resolution or answers, that action was followed by the CATS Act’s introduction today.

A bipartisan bill called the CATS Act was introduced in Congress by @repdinatitus and @RepBrianMast to end taxpayer-funded tests on kittens and cats. @WhiteCoatWaste https://t.co/yFsq16mZvi

— Green Matters ♻️ (@GreenMatters) December 3, 2020

Now, 21 Congress members from both sides of the aisle have introduced the CATS Act. In addition to Reps. Titus and Mast, the bill is co-sponsored by Reps. David Cicilline (D-RI), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Josh Harder (D-CA), Will Hurd (R-TX), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Andy Levin (D-MI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Donna Shalala (D-FL), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

A silver lining of spending so much time at home is that I’ve finally figured out what my #cat does all day. Can’t imagine this difficult time without our furry friends.

Proud to cosponsor the #CATSAct to end the VA’s lab experiments on kittens & cats. #AnimalWelfare pic.twitter.com/KiZlxzp1YO

— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) December 3, 2020

This is an unquestionably popular measure. A national poll of 1,000 people last month found that nearly three-quarters want to cut funding for the VA’s kitten abuse. More than 170,000 WCW advocates have signed our petition demanding the VA stop its wasteful, cruel, and extremely disturbing kitten experiments and adopt out the survivors with more adding their names every single day.

Last year we shut down the biggest cat lab in the whole federal government: the USDA’s notorious “kitten slaughterhouse” lab.

Now let’s do it again and send the VA’s cruel and wasteful cat experiments to the litter box of history.

Join the fight: Please take a moment to write and urge Congress to pass the CATS Act and defund the VA’s kitten labs!