Dear Colleague:

You may recall that the House passed wild horses and burros legislation last Congress (HR 249 in the 110th). However, there is an enormous difference between this year’s bill and the bill from last Congress. Last year’s bill simply prohibited the commercial slaughter of wild horses and burros – it was one-page in length and CBO estimated the cost was under $500,000 a year. This year’s bill (now twenty pages in length) also bans slaughter, but then it goes on to spend over $700 million to create a welfare program for wild horses.

NEW $700 MILLION HORSE WELFARE PROGRAM:

• Conducts a horse census every two years
• Provides “enhanced contraception” and birth control for horses
• Establishes an additional 19 million acres of public and private land for wild horses
• Covers $5 million tab to repair horse damage to land
• Mandates that government bureaucrats perform home inspections before Americans can adopt horses

The substitute I am offering is the exact text of the bill passed last Congress (as written by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rahall). This means the House will get to choose between adopting the bill that passed last Congress that bans slaughter and costs under $500,000 a year (in the form of the Hastings Substitute), or passing HR 1018 that bans slaughter and creates a $700 million welfare program for wild horses.

If you have questions, please contact Jim Streeter or Jason Knox on the Republican staff of the Natural Resources Committee at 226-2311.

/s
Doc Hastings
Ranking Member
Committee on Natural Resources

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