House Panel Lifts Ban on Slaughtering Horses for Meat (December update: false alarm...)

Hot news off the AP wire on one of my favorite examples of a US-centric repugnant transaction. Here it is from the NY Times:

House Panel Lifts Ban on Slaughtering Horses for Meat

"A House panel has voted to lift a ban on slaughtering horses at meat processing plants.

The move by the House Appropriations Committee would reverse a horse slaughter ban that was contained in a huge catchall spending bill signed into law by President Trump in early May.

A move to renew the slaughter ban, pushed by California Democrat Lucille Roybal-Allard, was defeated by a 27-25 vote.

The Horse slaughter ban has mostly been in force for more than a decade. The ban is enforced by blocking the Agriculture Department from providing inspectors at meat plants that slaughter horses and is in place through Sept. 30.

There are currently no horse slaughter facilities operating in the U.S.

The vote came as the panel approved a Department of Agriculture funding bill."
***********

See my earlier posts on horse meat and it's bans here:  http://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/search/label/horse


HT: Itay Fainmesser
**********

Update: without fanfare, the Washington Times reports in December 2017:
"A Government Accountability Office report several years ago said the ban led to even worse conditions for horses, and the slaughter ban was dropped for a while. But advocates fought back, and the ban has been revived as part of annual spending bills, which block food inspections of horse meat, effectively prohibiting the practice.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/26/wild-horse-population-control-methods-divide-lawma/