Not Jus’ for Dogs Anymore

My friend Anne Combs Swanson asked me to do a bit of research into the question regarding President Obama signing a law legalizing the slaughter of horses for human consumption. After hearing numerous news reports about how he had done this — on no less than Thanksgiving Day — I’m happy to report that he signed H.R. 2112 on November 18th — nearly a week before.

While looking into this, I spoke with several people who told me that no where in H.R. 2112, does it specifically use the wording, “horse slaughter,” or “human consumption.” I must admit — they got me on that one too.

However, after reading through the entirety of H.R. 2112, this is what I found on page 77, Line 8 through 17 as it pertains to horse slaughter. The section is struck out line-by-line and now legalizes the inspection of horses under the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

SEC. 739. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to pay the salaries or expenses of personnel to— (1) inspect horses under section 3 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 603); (2) inspect horses under section 903 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 1901 note; Public Law 104–127); or (3) implement or enforce section 352.19 of title 9, Code of Federal Regulations.

In essence, this is what some might call “an end round run” in changing the law. It doesn’t specifically say “horse slaughter for human consumption,” but this can be inferred by the very fact it’s being inspected solely on the basis of meat.

You be the judge.