Political Quotes

“the amendment and modification I just sent to the desk is an amendment that is referred to as the Puppy Protection Act that Senator Durbin and I have introduced. The reason I brought this up is because of my continuing concern, and I know Senator Durbin's continuing concern, about the treatment of dogs and puppies in some of the breeding facilities across the country. There are literally about 3,000 such commercial breeding establishments that breed puppies for sale into homes as pets. There are, unfortunately, numerous reports and evidence of very bad conditions in these puppy mills. I have had an ongoing concern about it. We have been working for quite some time with USDA to improve enforcement. They have some 80 people to enforce the existing Animal Welfare Act. They simply are understaffed. The problem we are seeing is not only are they understaffed but there are some holes in the animal welfare law. A lot of my colleagues have come to me because they have been hearing from some of their constituents who are saying: Why is Rick Santorum trying to expand the reach of the Federal Government to take care of breeding dogs? This doesn't seem to be something in which the Federal Government should be involved. First off, the Federal Government is involved. In 1966, we passed the Animal Welfare Act.”