Congresswoman 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. Rosa DeLauro for re-election in the race for Connecticut’s 3rd congressional district.
The group commended her work as the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the bipartisan Minks in Narrowly Kept Spaces (MINKS) are Superspreaders Act (H.R. 7670) to address the public health threat posed by domestic mink farming. The U.S. market for mink fur coats collapsed more than a generation ago, yet a handful of U.S. mink farms continue to operate an export-driven business to meet a consumer demand from elites in foreign countries such as China. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, minks were shown to be able to contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus and transmit it back across the species barrier to humans, proving that the risks of mink farming far outweigh any purported benefits.
Earlier this year, Rep. DeLauro was part of a bipartisan quartet of House members who introduced the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 (H.R. 7248), building upon the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, a law President Biden signed in 2022 that lifted an animal testing requirement for developmental new drugs to obtain market approval and that DeLauro also helped to lead. Though Congress passed that law two years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not acted to implement it. Rep. DeLauro’s FDA Modernization Act 3.0 will compel the FDA to do its job and implement that law.
Rep. DeLauro also won praise for her 15-year commitment as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee to maintain a funding restriction that prevents federal monies from being used for horse slaughter.
“Rosa DeLauro fights for animal welfare at every turn,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “She understands that cruelty to animals matters, whether the victims are wild or domesticated animals, and she’s working hard to drive policies to address these societal problems.”
Pacelle also commended Rep. DeLauro 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 3rd congressional district of Connecticut to return Rep. DeLauro to Congress this fall,” Pacelle said.
The full endorsement letter for Rep. DeLauro may be viewed here.