The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee has voted to amend its Fiscal 2018 USDA funding bill to forbid the agency from using funds to conduct inspections at horse processing plants. The vote comes after the U.S. House of Representatives declined to adopt a similar amendment.

On July 20, the subcommittee approved by voice vote its $145.4 billion funding bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, the Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies, including $1.03 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS, the agency which conducts inspections at meat processing plants).

On July 20, Senators Tom Udall (D-NM), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sponsored an amendment stripping FSIS of funds to “pay the salaries or expenses of personnel” to inspect horsemeat under the Federal Meat Inspections Act or the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996.

The amendment passed during a voice vote. Without the federal inspections, horsmeat products cannot be sold in the United States or in foreign markets, making U.S. horse processing plant development impossible