Inbox: Appropriations 2025

By Laura Leigh on August 27, 2024

Young burro with a floppy ear at Litchfield, showing tag number.

Many of you are sending us messages asking about the 2025 Spending bill. We hope this article answers some of your questions.

Appropriations 2025 (Spending Bill)

Both the House and Senate Committees released the draft reports (bill language). Both bills continue to reflect the “BLM 2020 Plan” that incorporated the “Path Forward” big corporate lobby agreement.

We highlighted text referring to the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Prohibitions against open sales to slaughter and killing healthy wild horses and burros outright are maintained.
The push to increase fertility control (continually vaguely described) is included.
Both versions push “public/private” partnerships for holding facilities and fertility control.
Both versions urge removals to get to AML.

The Burns Amendment of 2004 is defunded (open sales to slaughter and killing of healthy horses and burros) since the day is was passed.

The only real difference is that the Senate version allocates $102,000. more than the House. Both allocating around $143 million. This amount does NOT reflect any cut in ACTUAL spending. When an agency is allocated funding they need to use it in a specified timeframe; both House and Senate versions reflect actual spending and not previously allocated funds.

The fight for the 2026 spending bill actually begins in earnest after the President releases the “Presidential Funding Request” early next year. The fight usually begins in February. It is a good time to make an appointment to speak with your representatives.

People are asking if there is still time to get big change in the budget. Any significant change for reform is really unlikely prior to the January change in seats post-election. Changes after the election are dependent on how the make-up in Congress shifts and how the next President’t budget request looks for the next term. We could end up with another request to kill healthy wild horses in holding like we had in 2017.

In blistering heat foals cluster by a wire fence seeking the shreds of shade provided (Palomino Valley Center, open to the public)

This week your representatives will be in their home offices. A good time to reach out to local offices to air your concerns.

In DC, Congress will begin working on the funding package again on September 9.

One easy and inexpensive change that we may still be able to get into the 2025 budget would be an amendment to allocate specific funding to complete Rulemaking for an enforceable welfare policy.

The current budget calls for “compliance with the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) without any understanding in Congress that CAWP was never finalized as policy. BLM put out the draft standards and an evaluation tool to determine revisions. Instead of revising the standards and putting them out for public comment before finalizing policy (the Rulemaking process), in 2020 they simply typed the words “permanent” and “policy” onto the draft.

Once again BLM shortchanged analysis, public process and failing to create any avenue for real accountability to the mandate to “manage humanely.”

If you want to try to get a simple amendment in the budget to rectify this issue, you can make a call.

The phone number for Congress is: (202) 224-3121.

Call the number, tell the operator who your representative is (or where you live if you do not know) and you will be connected to an aide in the office. Ask to register your concerns and request.

Ask that an amendment to the funding bill for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program be crafted to simply create a “line item for funding for Rulemaking to create an enforceable welfare policy.”

The word “rulemaking” is vitally important as it is the name of the process that opens a welfare policy to public comment and finalizes with enforceability. We need concise rules, enforceability through formal policy making and consequences. The way to get that is through Rulemaking.

Capture during heat event and dangerous air quality from wildfire smoke, Blue Wing, 2024.

It has become a real problem that Congress has simply continued to make a vague fertility control a plea that confuses “welfare” with population control.

It is not only tiresome, but extremely damaging to the welfare of wild horses and burros that each time a tragic and preventable death occurs that some Congress person uses big public relations firms and orgs to exploit the tragedy and push for further subsidies for fertility control and partnerships.

A welfare policy is needed. A real welfare policy. It is a distinct and separate issue.

We hope this answers your questions. We will be publishing additional articles as time allows to address questions “in the inbox.”

Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline running for the wild.