The $1.1 billion omnibus spending bill that President Obama signed on Friday will do more than fund the government through the end of September. A provision in the bill bans the funding of USDA inspections at horse slaughter plants. That provision effectively prohibits Valley Meat Co., the proposed horse slaughter plant in Roswell, N.M., and others like it from operating.

According to NPR News, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) helped add the provision into the bill.

“These incredible companion animals don’t deserve to be callously slaughtered for human consumption,” his office wrote in an email to The Salt. “We fought hard for the past three years to reinstate this ban to prevent slaughter facilities from reopening on American soil.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) tried and failed to strike the ban from the spending bill. He says that the ban will be harmful to older horses that would either be abandoned or sent to Mexico or Canada for slaughter. Before last night’s Senate vote, Inhofe said he and Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) plan to introduce separate legislation that would lift the ban on funding for horse slaughterhouse inspections.

“Without these facilities, aging horses are often neglected or forced to endure cruel conditions as they are transported to processing facilities across the border,” Inhofe wrote in a release. “This provision is counterproductive to what animal rights activists are hoping to achieve.”

Source: NPR