mr. chairman , i want to commend the gentleman from south carolina ( mr. spratt ) xz4003860 and the gentleman from west virginia ( mr. rahall ) xz4003310 and the gentleman from new york ( mr. sweeney ) xz4003930 for bringing this amendment to the floor . 
i would point out that we hear a lot from the american equine veterinarian practitioners and the american quarter horse association about their great concern for these horses , and yet there are hundreds of organizations in the country today who provide funding through their foundation to provide retirement homes for unwanted horses . 
yet i am not aware that the american equine veterinarian practitioners do that through a foundation , nor the american quarter horse association , nor do they do it through a foundation ; and they are the most prolific breeders of any breed in the country . 
i will also say we are talking about two foreign-owned companies here , one owned by a french family , one owned by a belgium family . 
they are the only ones slaughtering horses in america . 
in addition to that , the attorney general of texas , who is now a u.s. senator , wrote a legal opinion while he was attorney general stating that it was illegal to slaughter horses in texas . 
and yet , despite that , the slaughterhouse brought a lawsuit , and that case is now pending in u.s. district court . 
the mayor of kaufman , texas , where one of plants is located , has written a letter to us urging us to try to shut these plants down because of their consistent violation of environmental laws . 
but one of the things that is most difficult about this process is that , first of all , i think everyone would agree horses have not been raised for slaughter . 
unlike cows , pigs and chickens , they have not been raised for slaughter . 
when you take a cow , pig , chicken or whatever to an auction house you know it is going to be slaughtered . 
but many people when they take a horse to an auction are unaware because there is a lack of disclosure . 
in fact , there is an effort made to conceal that self-described `` killer buyers '' are at the auction house and they take the horses to slaughter . 
then the process of the captive penetrating bolt being administered by low-skilled workers , low-paid workers who frequently have to do it two or three times before the horse is stunned and then his throat is slit , i would dare to say that is not humane . 
now the leadership of the american equine practitioners say that it is humane . 
but if you talk to individual veterinarians , they would take controversy with that . 
for every page of supporters opposing this legislation , we have pages of entities and individuals and organizations that support this legislation . 
and i might add a few of them that support it . 
we have the owners of the last 12 kentucky derby winners supporting it . 
we have the national thoroughbred racing association supporting it . 
we have the thoroughbred owners and breeders association supporting it . 
we have the new york racing authority supporting it . 
we have churchill downs supporting it . 
i could go on and on and on . 
but , most important , we have an inconsistent policy in the u.s. government today on this issue . 
we prohibit sending horses out of america by sea for the purpose of slaughter , and yet we allow them to be slaughtered in the united states . 
so it is an inconsistent policy . 
there is a lack of disclosure at the auction house . 
and when california banned horse slaughter , the only thing that they found was that , one , horse theft went down and horse abuse and neglect did not go up . 
with that , i would urge the support of the sweeney amendment . 
