Horse Before the Cart: GOP Back at Work and Still Doing Nothing

Congress Returns to Work This Week and with Health Care Costs Rising, War Raging, Gas Prices Soaring and an Immigration Crisis, the GOP Puts the Horse Before the Cart

• Price Per Gallon of Gas: $2.73 (Up $1.66 Per Gallon Since the GOP Took Control of Congress in January 1995)
• Employers Prosecuted for Unlawfully Hiring Illegal Immigrants: 4 in 2003 (Down From 182 in 1999)
• Decrease in Nationwide Median Income Under GOP Congress: 6% (Some States Saw a Decrease of up to 12%)
• Number of Children Without Health Insurance: 8.3 Million

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, as Congress comes back to “work” after a month off, American families are getting a sense of the true Republican priorities. Right now, American soldiers are deployed at war, gas prices are hitting records here at home and the Republican Congress still lacks answers for illegal immigration or the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Instead of tackling those issues, the Republican Congress slated a vote on horse slaughtering for their first week back. This bill, slated for a September 7th floor vote, has stirred activity on both sides of the aisle, even while so many critical priorities fall off the radar of the Republican leadership setting the agenda in Congress.

“With the mounting challenges facing Americans everyday, this is what the Republicans choose to focus on? Democrats think that protecting horses is important but not more important than protecting our troops, our children and our economy. The new direction Democrats are fighting for begins with getting Congress to focus on problems that aren’t just equine by nature,” said Congressman Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “This November, Americans will choose to go in a new direction because we don’t need to be saddled by two more years of a rubber stamp Congress.”

The legislation aims to make it illegal to buy, sell or ship horses with the intent to kill them for human consumption. Supporters call the slaughter of horses for meat inhumane while opponents claim that keeping horses cooped up in poor conditions is even more cruel.