[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1685-1686]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               AWARE ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, one of the areas where Congress has 
repeatedly come together in a nonpartisan fashion to make real progress 
has been legislation dealing with the protection of animals. This is 
something that unites us as we have been able to deal with a series of 
simple, commonsense steps to assure we meet the standard of care.
  That is why it was so horrific to read the terrible front-page 
article in The New York Times on January 20 about the Federal Meat 
Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. Moving from the front 
page to two full pages on the inside were truly grotesque and 
horrifying examples of animal abuse.
  A young cow had its head locked in a cagelike device to keep her 
immobile while she was repeatedly--you can only describe it as sexually 
tortured for hours by as many as six bulls being studied for their 
sexual libido. Her back legs were broken, her body--in the words of one 
of the observers--was ``torn up,'' and the cow understandably died from 
her injuries.
  There were other experiments detailed, sheep and pigs, without 
consideration of animal health impact. It detailed horrifying and often 
unsuccessful results. At least 6,500 animals were known to have starved 
to death at this facility, and unknown numbers died from negligence 
from easily treatable infections, exposure to bad weather, or attacks 
by predators--all of this at a cost of almost $200 million of taxpayer 
money over the last 10 years, resulting in this grotesque abuse of 
animals.
  There is the ability to abuse, neglect, and even torture farm animals 
because there is no law that requires their protection. There is a 
loophole in the Animal Welfare Act which exempts farm animals used for 
research.
  Think about it. If you are abusing, neglecting, or even torturing 
farm animals for agricultural research, you don't have to obey the 
Animal Welfare Act. It is absolutely unjustified and outrageous.
  This week, Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick--my cochair of the 
Congressional Animal Protection Caucus--and I are introducing the AWARE 
Act

[[Page 1686]]

which would require that in Federal facilities, farm animals used in 
agricultural research be included in the definition of ``animal'' under 
the Animal Welfare Act.
  It seems rather simple. It would ensure that these animals are 
treated like other warmblooded animals in other Federal research 
facilities. It is time that we step up to stop this horrific abuse. 
There is no reason that the USDA agricultural research facilities 
experimenting on farm animals should not be held to the same standards 
as Federal research facilities that conduct lifesaving disease research 
with the same kinds of animals.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this AWARE Act, the Animal 
Welfare and Agricultural Research Endeavors. It is supported by The 
Humane Society, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the 
Humane Legislative Fund, and countless people across the country who 
deeply believe in animal welfare.
  This is our job in Congress, and this is a small step that we can 
quickly make to show that we respond to animal abuse and that the 
Federal Government will lead by example.
  I would urge my colleagues to join Congressman Fitzpatrick and me as 
members of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus to work together 
on behalf of God's creatures who cannot speak for themselves.

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