It’s my privilege to share our Humane Scorecard for the first session of the 119th Congress. The scorecard tracks key co-sponsorships, votes and other animal-friendly actions by federal lawmakers. It’s an accountability tool we use to cultivate greater awareness among legislators as well as incentives for their future commitment. Please look to see how your senators and congressional representative scored; the scorecard is something you can share with others who care about animals, too.
We entered 2025 with a new name, Humane World Action Fund, but our fundamental goal remains the same. We want to make this world a better one for animals— all animals— and we’ll leave no stone unturned in that pursuit. Your support is the foundation of our advocacy, and we’re proud of what we have accomplished together.
It is true that tense political divisions have complicated our work in this session of Congress. But they have not stopped us from delivering tangible results for animals through both legislative and regulatory channels. We were certainly successful in garnering bipartisan support for our animal protection agenda through the annual appropriations process that funds federal agencies.
For example, Congress held the line on funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, the Horse Protection Act and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, as well as programs that help domestic violence survivors with pets and encourage veterinarians to practice in underserved areas. We also secured vital provisions to prevent horse slaughter plants from reopening on U.S. soil and to advance testing methods at the Food and Drug Administration.
Defending farm animal welfare in the face of dangerous threats
Our most important challenge in the recently concluded session was our vigorous defense of California’s Proposition 12 and other state laws prohibiting the sale of products derived from intensive confinement practices detrimental to farm animal welfare and public health. We’ve successfully defended these laws against repeated attacks within the Congress, especially after the May 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross that rejected the NPPC’s claims that Proposition 12 is not constitutional. We’ve also helped to turn back Big Pork’s attacks in state legislatures. The second anniversary of Proposition 12’s full implementation has just passed, and it’s one of more than a dozen such laws in place across the country. We’re not going back to the era of abysmal welfare standards and zero concern for the animals.
Defending animal welfare regulations in principle and in practice
Another priority in this session was the defense of strong animal welfare standards and enforcement at a time of rising antagonism toward government regulations in some quarters. The current administration has reduced staffing at most of the agencies responsible for administering federal animal protections. While we succeeded in our congressional efforts to preserve funding for USDA oversight, the agency conducted thousands fewer inspections in 2025 than in previous years, likely due to the lengthy government shutdown, even as the number of AWA-regulated facilities has doubled in less than a decade.
Lax enforcement has been a longstanding problem under both Republican and Democratic presidents, and unfortunately the USDA has scaled back its use of enforcement measures to address violations of the AWA (in part because of a 2024 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the imposition of civil penalties). With enforcement efforts hamstrung, regulated entities could be escaping fines, penalties, administrative actions and court orders, animal confiscation, and license suspension or revocation. A February 2025 report by the USDA’s Office of Inspector General found that 80% of dog breeders reinspected during the audit period hadn’t fully corrected previously identified violations and made clear that strong oversight and enforcement are the only meaningful deterrents to violating the law.
A chief focus of our response to this entrenched pattern is our commitment to pass the Better Collaboration, Accountability, and Regulatory Enforcement (CARE) for Animals Act (H.R. 3112/S. 1538). This measure would strengthen the U.S. Department of Justice’s collaboration with the USDA on enforcement matters, authorizing the DOJ to seek license revocations, civil penalties and forfeiture to seize animals who are suffering at regulated facilities. By the end of the session, it had garnered 192 co-sponsors in the House and 38 in the Senate.
Defending animals in the second session of the 119th Congress
The scorecard highlights legislation we think has the greatest potential to pass in Congress. However, we work actively on dozens of other issues involving a range of federal agencies with animal welfare responsibilities. We’re fighting hard for all animals in need and distress, across the board — endangered wildlife, animals used in captive display or entertainment, companion animals, animals raised for food, animals in laboratories and more.
The second session of the 119th Congress is underway, and we hope you’ll stay aware of your legislators’ positions on animal protection measures. If you don’t see your senators and representative listed as co-sponsors of key federal bills, please reach out to encourage their support.
We could never have too many federal legislators willing to assert leadership on humane issues, and to that end, this scorecard is a measure of performance we can leverage to elect more humane candidates to office. This is especially true in 2026, with the seats of one third of the U.S. Senate and the whole U.S. House up for election.
We have intensified our efforts since the new year began, not just to defend our previous gains but to advance our ambitious agenda across a host of concerns. We’re counting on your help—and your support—to make that work a success.
