We’re Fighting to Oust the Worst of the Worst in Congress on Animal Cruelty

Between now and November 3, it’s the season of accountability. 

Members of Congress have told us who they are with the votes they’ve cast and the bills they’ve supported — or failed to support — since they were last sworn in 22 months ago.

It’s time to reelect the lawmakers who care about mercy and decency. And it’s time to drum politicians out of office who do the bidding of the special interests that exploit animals — the ones who follow a trail of cash that leads directly to factory-farming multinationals, animal research labs, and the trophy hunting lobby.

During our eight years of work, Animal Wellness Action has played a pivotal role in ousting eight federal lawmakers who stood in the way of mainstream anti-cruelty proposals or tried to overturn protections we put in place for animals.

The work we do is not partisan. We don’t play for the red team or the blue team; we just call the balls and strikes.

Here is our list of the top three lawmakers currently serving in Congress who must be defeated this year. These are the national politicians who’ve used their power to hurt other species instead of trying to relieve their suffering.

• U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, running for U.S. Senate in Iowa, wrote a bill to overturn state laws passed by 10 million voters in California and Massachusetts that protect farm animals from spending their short lives in tiny crates where they cannot even turn around.
  
  
• U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, running for Wisconsin governor, has made it his mission in Congress to strip away federal protections for endangered gray wolves and effectively declare an open season on them in the lower 48 states.
  
  
• U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, the only one of the trio who ever even pretended to have compassion for our fellow creatures, showed he cannot stand up for them when it counts — voting to gut a bill to crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting after he had already signed onto it!

Rep. Ashley Hinson, Author of the SOB Act

Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, introduced H.R. 4673, the Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act, in the 119th Congress to repeal Proposition 12 in California and Question 3 in Massachusetts and to prevent the states from ever passing laws that comprehensively address extreme confinement of farm animals.

By introducing this bill (and an earlier version called the EATS Act), Hinson is carrying the water for the National Pork Producers Council and its biggest member, China’s Smithfield Foods. This Chinese-controlled company already controls 25% of U.S. pork production, and if state laws for farm animals are wiped out, it’s an open invitation for China to buy even more American farmland and put their high-rise factory farms in our homeland.

Hinson serves on a committee to examine China’s influence in America. Maybe someone should tell her that America’s pork supply has more foreign control than any other sector of agriculture — and her SOB Act would make it even worse.

Go here to watch our television ad now running in Iowa.

Rep. Tom Tiffany and His Hatred of Gray Wolves

As a state senator in Wisconsin, Tom Tiffany pushed a bill to allow some of the most unsportsmanlike hunting practices imaginable: trophy hunting and trapping of wolves — with packs of dogs, with steel-jaw leghold traps and neck snares, and night-vision goggles in the dark. These would all kick in as soon as federal Endangered Species Act protections were lifted.

For a short time in 2021, those federal protections were lifted by the Trump administration. Sure enough, Hunter Nation sued to implement Tiffany’s law, and the slaughter began.

Just as Tiffany had scripted it, the trophy hunters swooped into action, pursuing wolves during their mating season, in the deep snow and often in the dark of night, using packs of up to six hounds at a time.

They killed 218 wolves in just 48 hours. That was nearly twice as many as the cap the state DNR had set. It was a slaughter. Nearly 90% of the wolves were killed using packs of attack dogs — setting up open-air animal fights where wolves were held at bay until the trophy hunters came in for the kill.

Tom Tiffany started serving in Congress the year before. And his first order of business was to introduce and pass legislation to remove federal protections for wolves.

Thankfully, we’ve succeeded in stopping that legislation so far. But even as he exits Congress, the prospect of Tiffany moving into the governor’s mansion raises the danger of new, unchecked assaults on his state’s wildlife.

In an interview just a few weeks ago, Congresswoman Haley Stevens from Michigan — a state that also has a gray wolf population — was telling host Pamela Brown that she favored David Crowley over Tiffany.

“David Crowley, 40 years old, is the Milwaukee executive. So, holy smokes, he is so ready to go run a big state like Wisconsin,” opined Rep. Stevens. “And this Tiffany that he’s running against, I serve with him in the House, and he is a nice guy, but he is kind of narrow, all right? And he’s deeply conservative, and his big priority is wolves. He wants to hunt wolves.”

She underscored, “It’s all he talks about. Pamela, I swear to you, it is all this man talks about.”

Maybe he read too much “Little Red Riding Hood” as a child.

But the people of Wisconsin are facing real challenges. Wolf killing is not their top priority. Tom Tiffany needs to go.

Rep. Rob Bresnahan and the FIGHT Act

The FIGHT Act has extraordinary support — 1,200 endorsing agencies and organizations, including the Pennsylvania Sheriffs’ Association, the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police, and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. The bill upgrades federal enforcement tools to dismantle dogfighting and cockfighting rings.

With every major law enforcement group in his state backing the FIGHT Act, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Penn., cosponsored the bill. 

During the House Agriculture Committee’s March 4, 2026, Farm bill markup, Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., offered a second-degree amendment to a FIGHT Act amendment to gut the bill — cutting out three of four provisions of the proposal.

Amazingly, Bresnahan supported the amendment to gut the FIGHT Act amendment even though he was a cosponsor of the original bill!

If a lawmaker cannot hold firm on a bill to combat animal fighting, what good is he?

It’s no profile in courage to work to combat staged animal fighting and to stop the criminals and cartels from operating these networks.

You don’t tout your support for a priority animal welfare bill and then renege on the issue when it comes time to vote on it.

We need lawmakers with fortitude and consistency. That’s not Rob Bresnahan.

See our ad against Rep. Bresnahan here.

Your Votes Affect the Lives of Millions of Animals

The records of lawmakers are detailed in our new tool to measure the performance of all 535 federal lawmakers on animal issues.

We need you to vote with conscience. But we also need your support to help us rally millions of Americans to elect pro-animal lawmakers and candidates and to oust people working against our agenda.

I can tell you that Ashley Hinson does not belong in the U.S. Senate. Tom Tiffany does not belong in a governor’s mansion. Rob Bresnahan should be replaced with someone in the House who consistently stands up for animals and against chaos and criminality.

They are working to put China in charge of high-rise factory farms. To slaughter wolves with the most odious means and with hate in their hearts. And to give a get-out-of-jail-free card to dogfighters and cockfighters who exhibit savagery to animals.

Animal Wellness Action will continue documenting these actions, explaining their implications, and taking action to purge anti-animal lawmakers from office.

We need you now. Please study our legislative assessment. And support our work so we can run these ads.