The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REGULATING THE RABBIT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H5185 on July 31, 2013.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REGULATING THE RABBIT
(Mrs. HARTZLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mrs. HARTZLER. Mr. Speaker, Washington bureaucrats are up to their old tricks again. They're interfering with how we run our businesses, dictating the type of health insurance we have to purchase, and stonewalling tax-exempt status based on political speech. Now they're going so far as to tell magicians how to do their magic shows.
Let me introduce you to Marty Hahne. He's an area magician from Missouri who's been doing magic shows for children in southern Missouri for over 27 years. This summer, he received a chilling letter from the Federal Government requiring him to have a license. Not for himself, but for his rabbit. The Agriculture Department is interpreting a decades-old law on animal exhibitions to now include pet bunnies used in magic shows. In order to continue conveying to children that reading is magic, he has to not only obtain a license, but also write a mandated disaster plan for his rabbit, including provisions for fire, floods, tornados, ice storms, and power failures.
This is just another example of government overreach and loss of freedoms in our country. It is time for this to stop. It is time for common sense to prevail. It's time for Big Government to leave us alone. With the track record of this current administration, that really would be like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
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