Taxpayer's
December Progress
Report
This headline says it all:
"Federal spending bill includes historic effort to curb government animal tests"
–WASHINGTON EXAMINER
After more than a year of work with Congress, WCW and its 2 MILLION+ supporters
(that's you, Taxpayer!) scored some historic
wins that will hold government accountable for wasteful animal tests, save taxpayers money and spare the lives of countless dogs, cats
and primates:
- NIH Spending bill calls on NIH to reduce primate testing!
Pro-animal testing lobbyists tried to remove the language and maintain current levels of primate labs. You
called Congress to fight it... and won!
- VA ordered to phase-out dog, cat and primate testing within the next 5 years!
It's the
first time in history that Congress has set hard deadlines for the elimination and reduction of experiments on
dogs, cats, and primates!
- FDA must set a timeline for the reduction of primate tests
and retirement of its monkeys!
FDA monkeys will finally get the 2nd chance they deserve!
Taxpayer, don't forget: absolutely NONE of this would have been possible without your donations and countless emails, calls and social media posts
urging Congress to take action.
Because taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay $15 billion+ for wasteful government
animal experiments.
Anthony Bellotti
President/Founder
White Coat Waste Project
P.S. Taxpayer, these wins are amazing, but we still
have to win our biggest fight this year: Rallying all 535 Members of Congress to pass
Violet's Law before 2020!
Violet's Law is the only way we can ensure lab survivors get the second chance they
deserve. But we must gather another 12,710
taxpayer signatures in the next 24 hours. If you haven't yet, please sign our urgent petition today:
Federal spending bill includes historic effort to curb government animal tests
By Carlin Becker
Appropriations legislation expected to be signed into law by
President Trump by the end of the week includes historic language directing several federal agencies to curb their use of animal research.
The bipartisan spending deal announced by lawmakers on Monday consists of 2,300 pages of bill text outlining $1.37 trillion in federal funding for
2020. The House passed the bills Tuesday in two packages, which will likely be followed by Senate passage on Thursday and a signature from the
president before federal funding runs out on Friday.
The legislation instructs the National Institutes of Health, housed under the
Department of Health and Human Services, to work toward reducing and replacing its taxpayer-funded experiments on primates with equivalent alternative
methods. The agency, which has come under fire for repeatedly violating spending transparency law, spends more tax dollars experimenting on primates
than any other government agency.
Spending legislation also repeats language that was included in the final full-year spending bills for
2018 and 2019, which directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to extend restrictions on its controversial canine testing. The department will
continue to have to gain explicit approval from the VA secretary to conduct dog experiments and will now also have to do the same for research
involving cats and primates. In a historic move, Congress is also requesting a plan by Dec. 31, 2020, for the VA to "eliminate or reduce"
the department's cat, dog, and primate use within five years.
Also included in the final spending package is language approved by the
House Appropriations Committee over the summer calling for the Food and Drug Administration to provide a plan for the reduction of its primate testing
and the retirement of monkeys.
"As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I'm proud that measures I supported to
hold federal agencies accountable for reducing harmful experiments on dogs and primates have been included in the final spending deal for fiscal year
2020," California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert told the Washington Examiner in an email. "For the sake of animal welfare and public health,
we need to ensure that the government's efforts to curb wasteful animal tests aren't just lip service."
"This bill puts us one
step closer to ending dog testing at the VA once and for all," Nevada Democrat Rep. Dina Titus said in an email. "This accomplishment is
worth celebrating, but we must keep fighting to eliminate these barbaric practices that inflict severe pain on animals without producing any
discernible medical advances."
Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who has led efforts to reduce canine testing at the VA
alongside Titus, echoed that sentiment.
"It's unacceptable for the Department of Veterans Affairs to use taxpayer dollars to fund
cruel, unnecessary experiments on animals at the VA," the Army combat veteran said in an email. "These painful-often deadly-tests have gone
on long enough, and it's about time we worked together to end them for good. Protecting cats and dogs is common sense, and I'm glad we were able to
come together to get this done."
The appropriations legislation comes as several federal agencies have been criticized lately for
conducting costly animal research opposed by most taxpayers on their dime. Many of the experiments involve painful tests that have been denounced as
unnecessary by some experts on the matter. Opponents to animal testing applauded Congress's latest move.
"Medical research has saved
the lives of veterans and others for decades. Over those decades, technology has improved how that research is conducted, including alternatives to
doing painful experiments on the same animals we keep as pets and rely on as service dogs," said Sherman Gillums Jr., retired U.S. Marine Corps
officer and chief advocacy officer at American Veterans.
"AMVETS appreciates the lawmakers in the House and Senate who are demanding
greater accountability in how taxpayers dollars are spent in order to modernize and improve VA research," he told the Washington Examiner in an
email.
Taxpayer watchdog White Coat Waste Project also commended lawmakers, with Vice
President of Advocacy and Public Policy Justin Goodman pointing out that "a growing majority of Americans-including our 2 million taxpayer
advocates-don't want the government squandering billions of their tax dollars to give puppies heart attacks, cripple kittens or addict monkeys to
street drugs in wasteful experiments."
"The historic, hard-won measures we worked with Congress to include in
the 2020 spending package will ensure that the NIH, VA and FDA are actively working to eliminate this government-funded animal abuse, and that
lawmakers and taxpayers can hold them accountable," he wrote in an email.
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To stop
taxpayer-funded animal tests, we must first stop the $15 billion+ in wasteful government spending.
We find, expose, and de-fund wasteful government
spending on animal experiments. To change public policy, we unite liberty lovers and animal lovers with hard-hitting investigations and public policy
campaigns.
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