Tenure: 119th Congress
Years of Service: 2025–Present
Notable Actions
119th Congress
✅ Cosponsor of the Cease Animal Research Grants Overseas (CARGO) Act, S. 1802, bipartisan legislation to prohibit the National Institutes of Health from funding research involving live animals outside the United States, where NIH lacks direct inspection and oversight of animal-welfare practices.
✅ Lead cosponsor of the Providing Emotional Assistance with Relief and Love (PEARL) Act, S. 4079, to establish a pilot program for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to adopt shelter dogs and train them as support dogs to provide grief assistance, trauma mitigation, and morale support for CBP personnel.
✅ Cosponsor of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, S. 775, to ban U.S.-based horse slaughter and the export of horses for slaughter for human consumption.
✅ Cosponsor of the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Trafficking (FIGHT) Act, S. 1454, to strengthen federal enforcement against animal fighting and related criminal activity.
❌ Voted “Yea” on S.J. Res. 23 (Senate Roll Call Vote 122), a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn federal regulations strengthening implementation of the Endangered Species Act, including protections governing the listing of imperiled species and designation of critical habitat. A “Yea” vote is the anti-animal position because it supported eliminating stronger protections for threatened and endangered wildlife and their habitat.
✅ Voted “Aye” on the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 69 (Senate Roll Call Vote 597), a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act to bring the measure before the Senate for consideration to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Barred Owl Management Strategy, which authorized the large-scale killing of barred owls in Washington, Oregon, and California. An “Aye” vote is the pro-animal position because it supported moving forward with a vote to repeal the barred owl kill plan.