Washington, D.C. – Today Animal Wellness Action announced its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne in her re-election effort for the Third Congressional District in Iowa.
“Cindy Axne knows that we have to take care of our animals, no matter if they are pets in our communities or animals at the center of agriculture,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “Her forthcoming bill to crack down on illegal cockfighting stops cruelty and also protects poultry operations by stemming an underground industry that threatens commercial poultry flocks throughout the nation.”
Axne’s forthcoming bill, the Animal Fighting Amendments Act of 2022, will strengthen the federal law to combat widespread illegal dogfighting and cockfighting. She supported the last upgrade of the federal law against animal fighting, applying all prohibitions in the law (staging fights, attending an animal fighting event or bringing a minor to one of these spectacles of cruelty, or possessing animal for fighting) to the U.S. territories.
Last December, Axne introduced a bill to crack down on puppy mills. The bill is named “Goldie’s Act,” after a golden retriever who died under the care of Iowa puppy mill owner Daniel Gingerich, who operated in Iowa for two years and amassed over 100 violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
A senior member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Axne has backed numerous animal protection measures in the U.S. House:
- Axne is a cosponsor of the FDA Modernization Act to stop needless, costly, and inhumane animal testing. The measure recently passed the U.S. Senate and would end animal testing mandates at the FDA by amending the 1938 statute – a Depression-era requirement for animal testing for all new drug development protocols, allow for alternative methods when validated, and help reduce drug costs and time to market for voters. This bill passed the Senate unanimously and is poised to pass the House soon after the election.
- Axne is an original cosponsor of the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act and voted in support of the measure in July of 2019 that would end one of the most egregious abuses in the equine show world, the painful practice of ‘soring’ Tennessee Walking Horses.
- Axne was a cosponsor of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, that took effect in July of this year, signed into law to ban the use of race day doping in American horse racing. The measure created a uniform national standard for drug testing and track safety overseen by the private non-profit Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority that will provide much needed certainty for the industry.
- Axne is a cosponsor of the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act that would permanently end the slaughter of equines on U.S. soil, and the transport of equines over state and federal lines for that purpose.
- Axne cosponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act that also may be poised to be enacted by the end of 2022.