Trump’s signature on Buchanan bill turns animal cruelty into ‘heinous’ federal crime
Animal abusers will now face more punishment under federal law thanks to President Donald Trump’s signature on Congressman Vern Buchanan’s bill.
Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, and other supporters of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act legislation gathered in the Oval Office Monday afternoon for a bill signing ceremony.
Congress recently passed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, which closes an unintentional loophole in 2010’s Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act that outlawed filming animal torture but did not make animal harm itself a federal crime.
“This common-sense legislation restricts the creation and distribution of videos or images of animal torture,” Trump said before signing the bill. “It is important that we combat these heinous and sadistic acts of cruelty, which are totally unacceptable in a civilized society.”
With Trump’s signature, the law now punishes animal abusers regardless of whether the act was filmed or not with fines and up to seven years in prison. The bill earned more than 300 co-sponsors as it worked its way through the House and the Senate.
Buchanan told Trump that the legislation was a product of Trump’s leadership in Washington, and suggested that more bipartisan legislation would be headed to the White House soon.
“Mr. President, I just wanted to say that this is a big bipartisan win,” said Buchanan “It takes time, unfortunately — you know better than anybody — to try and get something done up here, but with your leadership — and we’ve got some other good bipartisan wins we’re going to have shortly, I think.”
“There was a lot of work by a lot of different groups and members of Congress on both sides,” he added.
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also attended the ceremony in support of the legislation.
“Way too many of these cases were prosecuted, and thanks to you, you’re going to save so many animals,” she told Trump.
“This is common-sense, bipartisan legislation to bring some compassion to our animal laws,” said bill co-sponsor Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton.
Buchanan, who co-chairs the Animal Protection Caucus, also recently received a perfect score from the U.S. Humane Society. He was one of four Republicans in Congress to do so.
“Preventing animal cruelty and protecting threatened wildlife are bipartisan issues that we can all get behind,” Buchanan said in a statement.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 11:09 AM.
