[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H5788-H5791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PREVENTION OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE IN ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS ACT OF 2010
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 5566) to amend title 18, United States Code, to
prohibit interstate commerce in animal crush videos, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5566
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Prevention of Interstate
Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Federal Government and the several States have a
compelling interest in preventing animal cruelty.
[[Page H5789]]
(2) Each of the several States and the District of Columbia
criminalize intentional acts of animal cruelty.
(3) The clandestine nature of certain acts of animal
cruelty allows the perpetrators of such crimes to remain
anonymous, thus frustrating the ability of Federal and State
authorities to enforce the criminal statutes prohibiting such
behavior.
(4) These criminal acts constitute an integral part of the
production of and market for so-called crush videos and other
depictions of animal cruelty.
(5) The creation and sale of crush videos provide an
economic incentive for, and are intrinsically related to, the
underlying acts of the criminal conduct.
(6) The United States has a long history of prohibiting the
interstate sale of obscene and illegal materials.
(7) Animal crush videos appeal to the prurient interest and
are obscene.
SEC. 3. ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS.
(a) In General.--Section 48 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 48. Animal crush videos
``(a) Prohibition.--Whoever knowingly and for the purpose
of commercial advantage or private financial gain sells or
offers to sell, or distributes or offers to distribute, an
animal crush video in interstate or foreign commerce shall be
fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years,
or both.
``(b) Rule of Construction.--Subsection (a) does not
prohibit the sale, distribution, or offer for sale or
distribution, of any visual depiction of--
``(1) customary and normal veterinary or agricultural
husbandry practices; or
``(2) hunting, trapping, or fishing.
``(c) Definition.--In this section the term `animal crush
video' means any obscene photograph, motion-picture film,
video recording, or electronic image that depicts actual
conduct in which one or more living animals is intentionally
crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, or impaled in a manner
that would violate a criminal prohibition on cruelty to
animals under Federal law or the law of the State in which
the depiction is created, sold, distributed, or offered for
sale or distribution.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The item relating to section 48 in
the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 3 of title
18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``48. Animal crush videos.''.
SEC. 4. BUDGETARY EFFECTS PROVISION.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go-Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the House of
Representatives, provided that such statement has been
submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Gallegly)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation addresses a disturbing subject in need
of congressional action.
In the late 1990s, Congress was made aware of a growing market of
videotapes and still photographs depicting animals, typically small
animals, being slowly and sadistically crushed to death. These
depictions are commonly referred to as ``crush videos.'' Much of the
material features women inflicting torture with their bare feet or
while wearing high-heeled shoes. The depictions often appeal to people
with a very specific sexual fetish.
Even in States where harming the animals in such a way itself
violates State laws prohibiting cruelty to animals, prosecutors had
difficulty obtaining convictions. For example, the faces of the persons
inflicting the torture were often not shown in the videos; and the
locations, times and dates of the acts could not be ascertained from
the depictions themselves. So defendants were often able to
successfully assert as a defense that the State could not prove its
jurisdiction over the place where the acts occurred nor that it could
prove that the actions took place within the statute of limitations.
In short, it has been difficult enough to find the perpetrators of
the underlying acts of cruelty to animals. Then, even after they have
been found, it has been difficult to obtain convictions.
So Congress enacted a new law prohibiting the creation, sale, and
possession of the depictions of such acts. The new law was codified as
section 48 of title XVIII of the U.S. Code. The motivation for passing
the law was to address the sale of crush videos, but the statute was
written in such a way that it also could be read, in some
circumstances, to apply to more mainstream material, such as videos
depicting hunting and fishing and other activity protected by the First
Amendment of the Constitution.
Because of this susceptibility to a broader reading, in April the
United States Supreme Court invalidated the entire statute in the case
United States v. Stevens, holding that the law was overbroad and
violated the First Amendment. The Court made it clear, however, it did
not rule out the possibility of Congress' adopting a bill that would
hold up under constitutional scrutiny.
In May, the Subcommittee on Crime held a hearing about the decision.
It heard from witnesses who testified that a narrower legislative
approach would likely be constitutional and survive court challenge.
The bill before us is much more narrow than the original law. The
most important difference is that the bill would only prohibit the sale
of crush videos that are obscene under current law. This would address
a key flaw in the original statute because obscenity is outside the
protections of the First Amendment. Whereas some of the activity
covered by the prior law under the broader reading was, in fact,
protected by the First Amendment, a much narrower range of conduct is
covered in the depictions prohibited by this bill. Furthermore, this
legislation specifically makes it clear that hunting and fishing videos
would not be covered by the prohibition.
I commend my colleague from California (Mr. Gallegly) and my
colleague from Michigan (Mr. Peters), who worked together to produce
this bipartisan bill. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GALLEGLY. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Conyers; my good friend,
subcommittee chairman Bobby Scott; and, of course, our ranking member,
Lamar Smith, for working closely with me to draft a bill that would
help put a stop to the sale of animal crush videos while, at the same
time, addressing the First Amendment concerns that were raised by a
recent Supreme Court ruling.
The district attorney of Ventura County, California, first brought
this issue to my attention back in 1999. He explained that, although
crush videos were illegal under State laws, the crime was difficult to
prosecute because video producers moved their goods through interstate
commerce to avoid prosecution.
The FBI, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of
Justice consider animal cruelty to be one of the early warning signs of
potential violent youth. The Boston Strangler, the Unabomber, Jeffrey
Dahmer, and Ted Bundy all tortured animals before they began to murder
people.
{time} 1900
Everyone agrees that these disgusting videos must be stopped. My
first bill passed the House in 1999 by a bipartisan vote of 372-42, by
unanimous consent in the Senate, and was signed into law by then-
President Bill Clinton. The Supreme Court ruled in April of this year
that the 1999 law was too broad, but indicated it may uphold a law that
is more narrowly drafted.
In response to the court's decision, I, along with my good friend
Representative Gary Peters, introduced H.R. 5566, the Prevention of
Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010. Based on the
testimony of the constitutional experts at the May 26 Crime
Subcommittee hearing, I worked with Members on both sides of the aisle
to craft legislation that is narrowly focused on prohibiting crush
videos rather than prohibiting depiction of animal cruelty.
Immediately after the 1999 bill became law, the crush video business
virtually disappeared. It has recently reemerged in light of the court
ruling.
[[Page H5790]]
Quick passage of H.R. 5566 will once again stop these revolting videos
that depict the torture of animals and killing defenseless animals.
I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 5566.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Peters), who has worked extremely hard on
this legislation.
Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, animal torture videos are heinous, barbaric,
and completely unacceptable, and we must stop them once and for all.
It's hard to believe that this sort of thing even exists, and that a
new law is needed to prevent it. Animal torture is outrageously
disturbing, and common decency and morality dictates that those engaged
in it should not be profiting from it. They should be in prison.
This is why I have introduced H.R. 5566, along with Representatives
Gallegly and Moran, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal
Crush Videos Act of 2010. This legislation will ban the sale or
distribution of so-called crush videos, depictions of small animals
being tortured and slowly crushed to death, and other videos depicting
abhorrent animal torture. Our bill responds to the Supreme Court's
recent holding that a 1999 statute banning crush videos was overbroad,
and therefore invalid under the First Amendment. H.R. 5566 carefully
parses and responds to the Stevens decision, and it is written to
survive another round of judicial review if challenged after enactment.
I appreciate the leadership of my colleagues, Representatives
Gallegly, Moran, and Blumenauer, on animal protection issues generally,
and specifically on animal crush legislation. As cochairs of the
Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, of which I am a member,
Representatives Moran and Gallegly are committed to advancing
commonsense animal protection legislation.
I would also like to thank the Humane Society for their help
throughout the drafting process, and for all of their tireless animal
protection efforts. Finally, I would like to thank Chairman Conyers,
Chairman Scott, and the members of the Judiciary Committee for their
commitment to advancing this necessary, commonsense legislation. I urge
its passage.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may
consume to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Sutton).
Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman from Virginia for the time and for
his leadership on this very important issue.
I rise today in strong support and as a cosponsor for the Prevention
of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act. And I thank Mr.
Gallegly and Mr. Peters, and all of those who are involved in dealing
with this horrific, horrific problem.
The recent Supreme Court decision overturned 10 years of Federal law
that outlawed animal crush videos. They said that the 1999 law was
overbroad. And the Supreme Court also left open an avenue for a more
targeted law. So today we make it clear, again, that the intentional
crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, and impaling of animals for
profit is beyond sick, and it must be stopped.
Today, with this narrowly tailored measure, we will end the trade of
crush videos, videos where animals are tortured for profit. Animal
abuse and profiting from these actions are beyond wrong. It's our
responsibility to close the loopholes to crack down and end the trade
in crush videos, and I urge a ``yes'' on the Prevention of Interstate
Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act to end this unconscionable
practice.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in
permitting me to speak on this, as I appreciate his hard work with the
Judiciary Committee, and my friend Mr. Gallegly from California.
This is an area, Mr. Speaker, that I personally think that we ought
to be able to come together. I supported the original legislation. I
found it horrific that we would have people profiting from the most
obscene displays of cruelty to animals. I understand the arguments that
were made before the Supreme Court, but I think they made it clear that
there was an opportunity to craft it more narrowly, and I think the
Judiciary Committee has done a good job in doing so.
I am pleased that this is one of the areas where Congress has been
able to come together, people on both sides of the aisle, to act
quickly in an area that actually is important to avoid demeaning us
all.
Mr. Speaker, cruelty to animals is not something that is just sort of
an esoteric issue that is one that is only nominally of interest. This
is something that speaks to the fundamentals of whether or not our
communities are going to be livable, whether or not we can relate
positively to one another. There is study after study that documents
that people who are abusive to animals are also people who are likely
to be abusive to their fellow human beings. It is a broad, far-reaching
problem we have in our communities still.
Having worked with the committee in the past on issues that relate to
animal fighting, there is a dark subculture here with people who get
satisfaction, emotional, sexual, out of seeing animals suffer. It seems
to me that it is important for us to respond quickly to be able to fill
the gap. I don't think anybody benefits from this type of activity
other than people who profit from it and people who have their own
sadomasochistic satisfaction.
I appreciate what the committee has done to meet the court's First
Amendment concerns and still speak to making sure that there are not
people who are engaged in these activities and profiting from it. At
the time of the original legislation, there were thousands of animal
crush videos, for example on the Internet. But after the enactment of
the original ban, they essentially disappeared. Now, after the Supreme
Court decision, we have seen a resurgence, one that is not in anybody's
interests. I hope that we are able to move with dispatch passing this
today, and moving onto the Senate, to be able to enact this and have
one significant, discrete area of progress that we can all take pride
in.
Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join us in passing
this bill, and yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the people
who have spoken and worked hard on this bill to get it in a form which
we believe will pass constitutional muster. Any time you deal with a
subject like this you have to deal with the First Amendment. The last
bill didn't quite make it, but we believe, based on the testimony we
have had today and the testimony we had at the hearing, that this bill
will survive constitutional muster and deal with the trash that is
being profited on.
So I thank my colleagues and urge my colleagues to support the bill.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank Congressman
Gallegly for his effort to bring this to the floor.
It is Congressman Gallegly who originally brought this issue to the
attention of Congress 10 years ago, and I have enjoyed working with him
as Co-Chairs of the Animal Protection Caucus to pass this important
bill.
Quite simply, animal crush videos contain some of the vilest
treatment of animals imaginable. They feature scantily clad women
crushing, impaling, or burning small animals of all types, apparently
for the sexual gratification of some sick people. These videos have no
redeeming value and clearly fall outside the realm of protected speech.
But although these videos contain behavior that would be considered
animal cruelty under state and federal laws, it is nearly impossible to
prove who produces the videos, making a ban on their sale through
interstate commerce the only means of ending the market for this smut.
A law was passed by Congress 11 years ago that did just that, but
earlier this year the Supreme Court struck down that law, claiming it
could be used to violate free speech rights.
While I didn't agree with that decision, it was clear that Congress
could not just stand by while these videos once again proliferated on
the Internet. Not only are they viciously inhumane to the animals
involved, but they also teach behavior that can lead to other violent
crimes against animals and humans.
As demonstrated by the its long list of bipartisan cosponsors and its
unanimous passage out of Committee, this bill represents a good faith
effort by Members of both parties to maintain the effectiveness of the
original law while addressing the constitutional concerns raised by the
Court.
[[Page H5791]]
Those who attempt to make a profit off the sale of crush videos
showing the torture of animals should not be allowed to hide behind the
claim that they did not produce the content.
This bill will take away that pathetic excuse, and I urge my
colleagues to support its passage.
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5566, the
Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act.
Crush videos are videotapes depicting small animals, including cats,
dogs, and even monkeys, being slowly crushed to death. Many of these
videos feature women inflicting the torture with their bare feet or
while wearing high heeled shoes. These videos capture the cries and
squeals of the animals, obviously in great pain.
In 1999, Congress enacted H.R. 1887 to criminalize the commercial
creation, sale, or possession of these heinous videos. However, in
April of this year, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional
this Federal statute. The court held that the language of the statute
was overly broad and would have extended to legitimate activities.
In response, Congressman Gallegly introduced and I cosponsored The
Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act. This
legislation amends the Federal criminal code to cure the defects in the
Federal statute. The bill prohibits a person from knowingly selling or
distributing an animal crush video in interstate or foreign commerce
for the purpose of commercial advantage of private financial gain. This
legislation also excludes from its scope the sale or distribution of
any visual depiction of hunting, trapping, fishing, or customary and
normal veterinary or agricultural husbandry practices.
In addition, the bill narrows the definition of ``Animal Crush
Video'' to make clear that it is not targeting legitimate products and
to tie the activity to the violation of a state or Federal law.
I believe it is important to stop these heinous activities, and I
support this legislation that more effectively targets these crimes
without affecting other, legitimate activities like hunting and fishing
videos.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R.
5566, Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of
2010. As a cosponsor of this bill, I know how important it is to pass
this piece of legislation to protect animals from being abused for
crush videos.
Mohandas Gandhi once said ``The greatness of a nation and its moral
progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.'' This wise
man was correct; and we must uphold our nation's moral standards by
protecting our animals. Animal crush videos depict conduct in which a
living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or
killed. In 1999, Congress passed a law outlawing the creation and
trafficking of these videos. Recently, however, the Supreme Court
struck down that law on first amendment grounds; arguing that law
covered too much speech. This legislation was written, in response to
the Supreme Court ruling, to narrowly outlaw animal crush videos while
preserving all American's first amendment rights. I support this bill
because animal crush videos depict living animals being tortured for
human gratification. While all Americans have the right to free speech
and expression, I can not in good conscience use the first amendment to
justify allowing torture and abuse of animals.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Himes). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5566, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________