Boulder – Animal Wellness Action announced its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse in his re-election effort for the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado, hailing him as one of the leading lawmakers on animal welfare in the Congress.
Congressman Neguse is author of the Animal Cruelty Enforcement (ACE) Act, H.R. 1016, to create an Animal Cruelty Crimes section within the Department of Justice. As chairman of the National Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee, he’s also an especially active leader on wildlife protection issues. He has urged a cessation of bison killing in Grand Canyon National Park, is working to block efforts by some in Congress to remove federal protections for gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act, and is advocating for replacing mass roundups and depopulation efforts of wild horses and burros with more humane-minded management strategies.
“Joe Neguse is a powerhouse when it comes to animal protection,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “He’s working to establish new animal protection legal standards and also to work hard to see that anti-cruelty laws are enforced, and his Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act is central to his strategy.” With a series of floor amendments that he led, Neguse was able to secure dedicated funding for USDA Office of Inspector General agents to enforce of our laws against dogfighting and cockfighting.
Neguse was also an advocate of a 2020 House Appropriations Amendment conceived by Animal Wellness Action to provide $11 million in funding for the Federal Bureau of Land Management for remotely delivered fertility control of wild horses as an alternative to mass roundups, including by means of dangerous helicopter chases that forced horses to run for miles at full tilt over rough terrain. That money has been appropriated for this purpose in each of the last three years.
- He is a cosponsor of the FDA Modernization Act to stop needless, costly, and inhumane animal testing. The measure would end an animal testing mandate for all new drug development protocols and allow for alternative methods when validated, helping reduce drug costs and time to market for palliatives and cures. That legislation is poised to pass this Congress.
- He cosponsored the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act to ban the trade in the fins of sharks destined for soup pots. He is also a cosponsor of the Bear Protection Act to stop the killing of bears for their gall bladders. Both forms of wildlife trade involve killing an animal for one small body part for commercial trade.
- He cosponsored the MINKS Are Superspreaders Act to ban mink farming in the U.S. With Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., they passed this provision in the U.S. House as an amendment to the USA COMPETES Act.
- He 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.
- He 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.
- Neguse 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.
Neguse serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on Natural Resources, and the Committee on Rules.