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. Troy Carter for re-election in the race for Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district.
The group commended his leadership as the author of the bipartisan 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. The congressman also won praise for being the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the Veterans for Mustangs Act (H.R. 726) which would protect wild horses and burros from inhumane helicopter roundups being used as a wildlife management strategy.
“Troy Carter 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. Carter 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, the Kangaroo Protection Act (H.R. 4995) to end the sale of products made from kangaroo skins and other kangaroo parts, the FDA Modernization Act 3.0 (H.R. 7248) to promote animal-free testing in drug development, and the Minks in Narrowly Kept Spaces (MINKS) are Superspreaders Act (H.R. 7670) to address the public health threat posed by domestic mink farming.
Pacelle also commended Rep. Carter 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 2nd congressional district of Louisiana to return Rep. Carter to Congress this fall,” Pacelle said.
The full endorsement letter for Rep. Carter may be viewed here.