On November 14th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 5441, to help end the cruel practice of soring Tennessee Walking, Racking, and Spotted Saddle Horses. Leaders at Animal Wellness Action have helped lead the charge to enact the PAST Act since 2013, and the measure cleared by a vote of 304 to 111 last night with 263 cosponsors, falling short of the 333 to 96 record vote in 2019 when the PAST Act first passed the House with 307 cosponsors.
Animal Wellness Action executive director and 8-time world champion equestrian Marty Irby, who was honored in 2020 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work to end soring released the following statement:
“We’re glad to see some action on the old PAST Act we’ve worked for a decade to pass, but with the House vote falling short of the 2019 record, the legislation stands an even lesser chance of passing the Senate in 2022 than it did in the 116th Congress. It’s clear the only path forward to see meaningful legislation to stamp out soring enacted, is to amend the PAST Act to make it more palatable for the Tennessee and Kentucky Congressional Delegations.”
Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) organization with a mission of helping animals by promoting legal standards forbidding cruelty. We champion causes that alleviate the suffering of companion animals, farm animals, and wildlife. We advocate for policies to stop dogfighting and cockfighting and other forms of malicious cruelty and to confront factory farming and other systemic forms of animal exploitation. To prevent cruelty, we promote enacting good public policies and we work to enforce those policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. We believe helping animals helps us all.
Contact: Marty Irby
202-821-5686
marty@animalwellnessaction.org