Dear Friend,  After 12 horses senselessly died at the Kentucky Derby last year, we are still grappling with the fragility of our country’s animal welfare laws.  Thankfully, in an era of unprecedented division and acrimony in Congress, animal welfare is an area that stands out as an opportunity to bring people together and solve a problem. The issue builds trust among lawmakers who do not normally work together and doesn’t have the same special interest opposition as many other initiatives. Nothing has given me greater satisfaction than leading this work in Congress as co-chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.  Our caucus is an illustration of how government should function, and a respite from the breakdown of issues along familiar partisan lines. We have had remarkable success. Following pressure from the Animal Protection Caucus after last year’s deadly Kentucky Derby, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority announced long-overdue reforms to better protect horses and their riders. Just last week, after years of advocacy the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finalized a rule to end horse soring: the intentional infliction of pain to produce a distinctive gait at horse shows. Our work extends beyond horse racing. In 2018, we ended the barbaric practice of animal fighting and we followed it in 2019 by making animal cruelty a federal crime. We have secured protections for big cats in captivity, encouraged the federal government to use non-animal testing methods, and spotlighted the scant protections for farm animals.  We cannot let up now. As Congress prepares to renew the Farm Bill, animal welfare must be the central pillar of our agricultural policies. That’s why I have proposed comprehensive legislation, the Food and Farm Act, to overhaul our nation’s food system to center people, animals, and the environment instead of big agricultural interests. We also need the federal government to actually enforce existing laws on the books. There have been horrific violations of the Animal Welfare Act, most recently in Virginia where the USDA failed to act after a breeder amassed hundreds of violations for keeping dogs in the most appalling conditions Throughout my 28-year long career in Congress, animal welfare has demonstrated the ability to bring people together and make real progress. I look forward to continuing this work for the remainder of my time in Congress and beyond.