Bill would boost broadband, horse-show enforcement; block meat-plant speedups; keep horsemeat ban, help land issues

The House Appropriations Committee has approved a funding bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture with money for broadband and horse-show inspections, and language to keep the ban on slaughtering horses for meat and reverse line-speed waivers for meatpackers.

"The legislation invests over $1.055 billion, an increase of $435 million above the FY 2020 enacted level, in the expansion of broadband service," says the committee summary of the bill.

"In April, during the covid-19 rush on grocery stores, USDA approved more than 15 poultry processing plants’ requests to increase line speeds by 25%, from 140 to 175 birds a minute," Sierra Dawn McClain reports for Capital Press. The bill would block such actions.

The bill "maintains the current ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. by defunding the inspection of horse slaughter plants on U.S. soil – a provision that has been maintained by Congress regularly since the last U.S.-based plants were shuttered in 2007,"Jacqui Fatka reports for Feedstuffs.

The bill also has $2 million for USDA enforcement of the Horse Protection Act, up from the current $1 million, sought by critics of horse shows and the practice of "soring," the use of chemicals and devices to train Tennessee walking horses to step high, Animal Wellness Action reports.

The measure also includes more than $5 million for land-title work and succession plans "to help farmers who have inherited land but don’t have a clear title or right," McClain reports. "Small-scale and minority-run farms often struggle most." Monica Rainge, director of land retention at the Land Assistance Fund, told McClain that about 60 percent of Black farmers have such property.

The bill seems less likely to pass on its own than as part of an omnibus spending package. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “made a statement to some of us senators last week that it didn’t look like Democrats were cooperating on appropriation bills.” Fatka translates: "Grassley’s comments implied that it was likely Congress was headed toward continuing programs at current levels until appropriations bills could be enacted, or an omnibus appropriations bill."