Sponsors (2)
The bill reduces painful dog and cat experiments and aligns federal spending with public ethics, but it could cut funding for some university research, slow related biomedical advances, and create compliance costs for institutions.
Researchers and animals at colleges and universities: federal support will be withdrawn for painful invasive dog and cat experiments, reducing animal suffering in academic research.
Pets and pet owners: clinical veterinary research on naturally occurring diseases in companion animals is preserved, so treatments for sick pets can continue to be developed and tested.
Taxpayers and the public: taxpayer funds will no longer support painful invasive dog and cat research at universities, aligning federal spending with common ethical preferences.
Universities and researchers: institutions and investigators who relied on federal grants for certain canine/feline research may lose funding and face project cancellations.
Patients, researchers, and students: restrictions on dog and cat research could slow biomedical studies that used those models, potentially delaying scientific or medical advances that indirectly benefit people.
Universities and administrators: institutions may incur administrative and compliance costs to reclassify studies or restructure programs to qualify for exemptions (for example, documenting 'clinical veterinary research').
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Stops federal funds to higher education institutions that conduct or fund USDA pain-category D/E research on dogs or cats, with limited exceptions for clinical veterinary and service/military animal work.
Introduced January 7, 2025 by Nicole Malliotakis · Last progress January 7, 2025
The bill stops federal funding to colleges and universities that perform or fund painful research on dogs or cats, starting 180 days after it becomes law. It allows exceptions for clinical veterinary research that benefits an animal, routine physical exams, and training or studies involving service or military animals. "Painful research" is defined by the USDA pain categories D and E.