Sponsors (2)
The bill stops federal funding for painful invasive dog and cat experiments at universities—reducing animal suffering and aligning taxpayer spending with ethical preferences—but may cut grants, impose compliance costs on institutions, and slow some biomedical research that could benefit people.
Pets, university researchers, and university animal care programs: federal grants will no longer fund painful or invasive dog and cat experiments at colleges and universities, reducing animal suffering in academic settings.
Taxpayers: federal spending on university research will no longer support painful invasive dog and cat experiments, aligning public funds with common ethical preferences about animal treatment.
Pets and veterinary clinicians/researchers: clinical veterinary research on naturally occurring disease in companion animals is preserved, so development of treatments that directly benefit sick pets can continue.
Patients and the broader public: restricting the use of canine and feline models could slow some biomedical research and delay scientific or medical advances that indirectly benefit people.
Researchers, students, and universities: institutions and investigators who relied on federal grants for certain dog/cat research may lose funding and face project cancellations, disrupting careers and programs.
Universities and research administrators: institutions may incur additional compliance and administrative costs to reclassify studies or document exemptions (for example, proving work qualifies as clinical veterinary research).
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Conditions federal funding on institutions not conducting or funding USDA pain-category D or E research on dogs or cats, with limited exemptions for clinical veterinary work, training, and service/military animals.
Official title: To prohibit the availability of Federal funds to institutions of higher education that conduct painful biomedical research on dogs and cats.
Introduced January 7, 2025 by Nicole Malliotakis · Last progress January 7, 2025
Prohibits federal funding to colleges and universities that conduct or fund painful research on dogs or cats, starting 180 days after the law is enacted. It exempts clinical veterinary research meant to benefit an animal, routine physical exams and training, and studies involving service or military animals, and it defines key terms like “painful research” using USDA pain categories.