Congressman hailed as a stalwart fighter for commonsense animal welfare policies
Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action, a national policy and political organization seeking to enhance and advance legal protections for animals, has endorsed Rep. Ted Lieu for re-election in the race for California’s 36th congressional district.
The group commended his leadership as the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the bipartisan Bear Poaching Elimination Act (H.R. 3518) to prevent bears from being needlessly killed for their gallbladders and bile, which are sometimes used in alternative medicine. The congressman also won praise for introducing the Lead Endangers Animals Daily (LEAD) Act (H.R. 5281) to restrict the use of hazardous lead ammunition for hunting in national wildlife refuges. Every year, ingested spent lead poisons millions of wild scavenger species, including our nation’s iconic bald eagles.
“Ted Lieu fights for animal welfare at every turn,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “He understands that cruelty to animals matters, whether the victims are wild or domesticated animals, and he’s working hard to drive policies to address these societal problems.”
In his current term, Rep. Lieu co-sponsored multiple key animal welfare bills including the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act (H.R. 2742) to crack down on organized dogfighting and cockfighting, the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act (H.R. 3475) to end the slaughter of horses for human consumption, and the Addressing Digestive Distress in the Stomachs of Our Youth (ADD SOY) Act (H.R. 1619) to ease a production burden on dairy cows and provide a non-dairy milk option for millions of lactose-intolerant minority children in the National School Lunch Program.
Earlier this year, Rep. Lieu also voted against two measures the House Republican leadership brought up on the House floor that would have been disastrous for wildlife. The first bill (H.R. 764) would have stripped Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across much of the lower 48 states, opening the door to trophy hunting and commercial trapping. Such a policy might also expose wolves to being recreationally run over with snowmobiles – a practice that came to light earlier this year in Wyoming. The second bill (H.R. 615) would have restricted land management officials from regulating the use of toxic lead ammunition on public lands and waterways.
Pacelle also commended Rep. Lieu for signing a letter of opposition to the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act (H.R. 4417), which would federally overturn certain voter-approved state laws ensuring the humane housing of farm animals, including California’s Proposition 12, which passed in a landslide ballot measure in 2018. Prop 12 was ultimately upheld by a bloc of conservatives and liberals on the U.S. Supreme Court in an opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee. Nevertheless, the EATS Act remains a top priority for foreign agribusiness giants, including the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, as it would allow them to undercut a multi-million-dollar investment many California family farmers have already made in more humane animal housing systems.
“Animal Wellness Action urges voters in the 36th congressional district of California to return Rep. Lieu to Congress this fall,” Pacelle said.
The full endorsement letter for Rep. Lieu may be viewed here.