Humane USA

The nation's largest animal protection political action committee. Humane USA is the only national humane organization legally able to contribute funds directly to animal friendly candidates. A small number of other groups, commonly called 501(c)(4)s, can campaign for or against those seeking office, but can not donate to their campaigns.

Why Support Humane USA?

Dear friend of Humane USA,

I want to thank you for your support of Humane USA in 2008, and let you know of the progress we made in the recent elections.  We channeled more than $400,000 to candidates through direct PAC contributions and through fundraising events that we hosted. 

We helped to elect a more animal-friendly Congress, and we are poised to accomplish even more for animals in 2009. I hope you will make a generous donation to Humane USA, and join with us now in pushing forward our agenda for animals in the 111^th Congress. 

We have a remarkable alignment of friends in Congress, and we do not want to squander this opportunity, but to cement our influence through active support of our allies.

Here is some of what we achieved in the November elections:

• Humane USA gave direct contributions to 115 federal candidates who ran for election in 2008. Of the candidates we supported, 100 of them won election -- a success rate of 87 percent.
• We helped to reelect many of our leading champions on animal protection issues who were facing very competitive challenges, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), and Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.). These lawmakers can continue fighting in Congress to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, thanks to your help.
• We also helped to elect new friends of animals to Congress, such as Jeff Merkley in the Senate (D-Ore.) and Gary Peters in the House (D-Mich.) -- two top challengers to incumbents, both of whom prevailed in close races thanks to Humane USA. In addition to helping Peters defeat Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.) and Merkley defeat Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), we helped Suzanne Kosmas defeat Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), Mark Schauer defeat Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), and Jeanne Shaheen defeat Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.). Some of the worst enemies of animal protection have been defeated and no longer hold the power to harm animals!
• We also supported several pro-animal candidates in open seat races who are now among the ranks of freshmen lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.), Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md.), Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), and Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.).

We are now building on the successes of the 110^th Congress, during which lawmakers backed by Humane USA pushed major pieces of animal protection legislation across the finish line:

• We passed a bill upgrading the penalties for illegal animal fighting to felonies and banning the commerce in cockfighting weapons, which the president signed into law in May 2007. 
• The president also signed legislation in December 2007 to keep retired chimpanzees in sanctuaries and prevent them from going back into research laboratories.
• The House of Representatives passed a resolution in July 2007 calling on Canada to stop its annual massacre of hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals, and passed a resolution in June 2008 calling on the International Whaling Commission to maintain its opposition to commercial whaling.
• The House also passed several wildlife protection bills in 2008 -- the Captive Primate Safety Act would ban the trade in pet primates, the Shark Conservation Act would strengthen protections against the cruel and wasteful practice of “shark finning,” and the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act and the Crane Conservation Act would fund projects to help imperiled species around the world. These bills did not make it through the Senate in the last Congress, but are now on the fast track to advance in 2009.

Of course, much of the work in Congress is done through amendments to larger bills, including “must pass” spending bills:

• The Food and Drug Administration reauthorization bill includes language to set standards for the safety of pet food, in response to the massive pet food recall scandal. 
• A provision of the Defense Reauthorization Act will establish a National War Dog Memorial. 
• The Farm Bill which was enacted in 2008, when Congress overrode the president’s veto, included various provisions to crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting, bar the imports of puppies from foreign puppy mills, and upgrade the penalties for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.  This single bill ushered in three major reforms for animals.
• We also succeeded in knocking two harmful provisions out of the Farm Bill, which would have negated state and local animal protection laws and given a $12 million subsidy to the veal industry.

The Congress did not succeed in passing individual agency appropriations bills last year, so melded them into a massive omnibus spending bill. The omnibus includes numerous animal protection provisions:

• We continued the prohibition on spending tax dollars to inspect horse slaughter plants.
• We secured language allowing the adoption of border control horses and other federal working horses.
• Language was included to prevent federal housing authorities from forcing tenants to have their cats de-clawed.
• We succeeded in inserting language in the bill instructing the U.S. Agency for International Development not to promote trophy hunting of foreign species.
• And we won language encouraging the development of alternatives to animal testing, and calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study more humane methods of slaughtering poultry. 
• The Senate passed a measure to stop the imports of sport-hunted polar bear trophies, but the House rejected a similar amendment, and it was not included in the final omnibus bill. However, the Interior Department announced that the polar bear would be listed as a threatened species, which effectively halted the trophy imports.

Now that the 111^th Congress has convened, we are working hard to advance several of our animal protection priorities:

• A bill to ban horse slaughter and the export of live horses for slaughter in Mexico or Canada.
• A measure to require accurate labeling of fur-trimmed garments to help prevent the sale of animal fur falsely advertised as faux fur.
• Legislation to stop the poaching of bears by halting the trade in bear parts, and to stop the aerial shooting of wolves from helicopters.
• A proposal to allow the establishment of pet trusts to provide lifelong care for companion animals.
• A policy to stop the government from purchasing animal products from factory farms that confine the animals in small cages or crates --  building on the overwhelming success of Proposition 2 in California.
• And legislation to prevent the canned hunting of exotic wildlife and the shooting of live animals over the Internet.

Much of the progress we are making is because we have leaders in Congress who push our agenda.  Humane USA is the only national Political Action Committee that can donate directly to animal-friendly candidates. Because of your financial support, we have been able to build relationships with lawmakers, let them know that the animal protection community is behind them, and encourage them to take on these important fights to stop cruelty and abuse.

Together we have built one of the largest PACs in the nation, and we are so grateful to you for your support.  With your continued participation, we can be in a remarkable position to succeed in advancing our agenda.  The animals have no voice in Congress or in elections, and they are counting on us to speak for them.

Thank you for being one of our best supporters.  Your support in the last election cycle allowed us to get many of our critical priorities over the finish line and set the stage for even greater reforms for animals. Early money always goes further in politics, and if you’re able to send your 2009 contribution to Humane USA, it would allow us to put animal protection on the political agenda of the 111^th Congress. 

Thank you so much for your support, and for helping us create a powerful political force for animals.

Sincerely,

Michael Markarian

Chairman

Humane USA

2008 110th Congressional Humane Scorecard

The Humane Scorecard, which is published annually by the Humane Society Legislative Fund, provides the records of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives on major animal welfare policies. This most recent report card covers the 110th Congress.  See it HERE

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