UPDATE (7/29/21): This legislation has been passed by the House of Representatives and now awaits action by the Senate.

Original post

Back in 2019, we shut down the USDA’s $22 million “Kitten Slaughterhouse” and got over a dozen cats adopted out from the lab into loving homes.

Today’s win in Congress follows our successful campaign to shut down USDA’s kitten slaughterhouse and retire the survivors, like Delilah and Petite.

Since then, we’ve been urging the USDA to join the National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Food and Drug Administration by enacting a policy that would allow taxpayers to adopt other animals from the agency’s labs.

As recently as this month, USDA has explicitly refused to do so, but thanks to WCW and Congress that’s about to change.

The House Appropriations Committee has just passed the USDA’s 2022 funding bill that includes a WCW-backed measure directing the agency to establish a plan to allow the retirement of dogs, cats and other animals no longer needed in intramural experiments. See the measure on page 23 of this legislation.

We are extremely grateful to Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), FDA Appropriations Chair Sanford Bishop (D-GA), and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) for their leadership on this effort to save healthy animals from government white coats who’d prefer to kill them than find homes.

This life-saving bipartisan measure was also championed by Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA), Karen Bass (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Danny Davis (D-IL), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Chuy García (D-IL), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Bill Keating (D-MA), Fred Keller (R-PA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Andy Levin (D-MI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Bill Posey (R-FL), Deborah Ross (D-NC), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).

The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives for a vote, then to the Senate, then to the President for his signature! We are working our tails off to make sure it becomes law, and will keep you posted.

In the meantime, you can take action! Urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor Violet’s Law to ensure all federal labs allow animals to be retired!