Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5566, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act. Crush videos are videotapes depicting small animals, including cats, dogs, and even monkeys, being slowly crushed to death. Many of these videos feature women inflicting the torture with their bare feet or while wearing high heeled shoes. These videos capture the cries and squeals of the animals, obviously in great pain. In 1999, Congress enacted H.R. 1887 to criminalize the commercial creation, sale, or possession of these heinous videos. However, in April of this year, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional this Federal statute. The court held that the language of the statute was overly broad and would have extended to legitimate activities. In response, Congressman Gallegly introduced and I cosponsored The Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act. This legislation amends the Federal criminal code to cure the defects in the Federal statute. The bill prohibits a person from knowingly selling or distributing an animal crush video in interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of commercial advantage of private financial gain. This legislation also excludes from its scope the sale or distribution of any visual depiction of hunting, trapping, fishing, or customary and normal veterinary or agricultural husbandry practices.…”