Mitch Perry
Congress has been on summer break for a long time, but when they finally return to Washington next week, Vern Buchanan has quite a to-do list of the people’s business.
Among which, the Sarasota Republican will offer amendments to a government funding bill which bans horse slaughter, combats red tide and protects endangered species.
Buchanan has submitted three amendments to the House Rules Committee, which will decide Tuesday whether to allow the measures to be brought to the House floor for a vote.
“Banning the slaughter of horses, curbing harmful red tide and funding the Endangered Species Act are important issues to the people in my district and the rest of Florida,” Buchanan said. “It’s time for Congress to end partisan gridlock and pass common-sense policies.”
The three amendments that Buchanan is offering are to H.R. 3354, known as the “Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act of 2018.”
One is the Buchanan Horse Slaughter Amendment, which would prevent the reopening of horse slaughter facilities in the U.S. by prohibiting federal funding for health and safety inspections which is required by law at all meat processing plants.
There is the Buchanan Red Tide Amendment, which would increase funding for NOAA’s National Ocean Service by $8 million to detect, respond to and develop new and innovative technologies to mitigate the impacts of red tide. Red tide is a toxic bacteria that has lingered along Suncoast shores on and off for several months now, killing thousands of fish and discouraging potential visitors from taking in some of the country’s best beaches.
Buchanan is also offered up an amendment to the Endangered Species Amendment, which would restore $3,393,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for new species listings under the Endangered Species Act. The Florida manatee was moved from the endangered to the “threatened” species list earlier this year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in June that it will review whether Florida panthers are still an endangered species.
