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“CORRECTION TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF APRIL 25, 2002, AT PAGE H1670” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1678 on April 29, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CORRECTION TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF APRIL 25, 2002, AT PAGE H1670
The following 5 minute special order was inadvertently attributed to Mr. Norwood:
BANNING COCKFIGHTING
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to spend a moment on the floor of the House this afternoon dealing with an issue that passed this House by voice vote overwhelmingly during the discussion on the agricultural bill earlier this session.
We now have in conference the ag bill that seems to be moving forward. I have grave concerns in one particular area, Mr. Speaker, that I am going to be working over the course of the next few days to seek clarification because I want to make sure that the intent of the House and the Senate are preserved in the final form that comes out of conference.
Mr. Speaker, there has been a practice of cockfighting, game hens, that has been tolerated by this Congress even though it is now illegal in 47 States. The public long ago has come to the point that this practice is inherently inhumane and barbaric.
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The handlers of these fighting birds drug the animals to heighten their aggression and to clot the blood. They affix knives or ice picks like gaffs to their legs and place them into a pit to fight until one of them is dead, all for amusement and illegal gambling.
Mr. Speaker, this barbaric practice is slowly being made illegal around the country. It is currently legal in only three States. The problem is that under current law it is still legal to transport these birds from States where it is illegal to States that it is legal, and this loophole is exploited to allow people to maintain, to train, and it facilitates illegal game bird fighting.
Last October, my colleague, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), and I offered two amendments to the farm bill that would close these loopholes and strengthen the penalty for violations of animal fighting laws. These two amendments were passed overwhelmingly by this body by voice vote, adopted in identical form in the Senate. This, in fact, should not even be a conference item. Identical language was adopted by both the House and the Senate. The intent of both Chambers was to close the loophole, ban foreign export of fighting animals, and increase the penalty.
According to the House Agriculture Committee's Web site, a conference committee is permitted to deal only with matters in disagreement between the House and the Senate. It may not change language that both have previously approved.
Unfortunately, it is pretty clear to me that people are, in fact, looking at watering down the penalty provisions in particular, and to deal with problems, some people are saying, I have been told by one high-ranking member of the conference committee that they are concerned that there is not a problem with 4-H clubs dealing with raising these chickens that the 4-H'ers produce.
Well, first of all, to prosecute a cockfighting case, law enforcement officers must have evidence of the illegal activity. The birds intended to be used in these cock fights are identifiable by several indicators, including the special structures that they are kept in, the fighting paraphernalia, the specific drugs that are provided to them to heighten the aggression and to aid the blood clotting.
The Animal Welfare Act already prohibits interstate transports for dogs for fighting purposes, and we have not had anybody come to this floor and say, well, we have these provisions in Federal law and we cannot have legitimate show-dog activities, that it is interfering with the buying, transport, and delivery of animals for purposes that do not impact animal fighting. Of course not. Reasonable people apply the laws reasonably, and this is absolutely specious.
There is a problem, however, because people will run through this loophole to continue to exploit the illegal game fighting that is happening in these States where it is illegal but it is legal to grow them, legal to train them, legal to transport them.
One of the problems is that the current penalties are 26 years old. They are not high enough to warrant prosecution of violations. What we hear from the U.S. Department of Justice and the USDA, that they have indicated that they would give more consideration if they were a felony and included higher fines and jail time.
That is what the House passed. That is what the conference committee should protect, and if we are not able to do that, Mr. Speaker, it is my intention to bring a motion to this floor to instruct the conferees to respect the rights and the will of the House and the Senate and to do what the American people want and end this cruel and barbaric practice.
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