Rep. Roybal-Allard Receives Courage in Leadership Award from PETA

Press Release

At a ceremony on Tuesday night, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) was presented with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) first-ever Courage in Leadership Award. The award recognizes her longtime dedication to ending animal abuse, preventing federal agencies from wasting taxpayer dollars, enhancing government oversight and accountability, and strengthening penalties for violations of animal welfare laws.

During her remarks, Rep. Roybal-Allard discussed her recent work to end the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) cruel and wasteful psychological experiments on infant monkeys. Dr. Jane Goodall and other renowned experts have criticized these experiments as outdated and unnecessary. Rep. Roybal-Allard described her successful bipartisan effort to include language in the Fiscal Year 2016 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill calling for closer ethical scrutiny of these and all other federally funded experiments on primates.

Rep. Roybal-Allard also spoke about her ongoing work to finally eliminate the inhumane and consistently noncompliant practices of Class B animal dealers that prey on lost, stolen, and abandoned cats and dogs and sell them to laboratories. She discussed her current support for efforts to modernize military training by replacing expensive, inferior, and outdated animal laboratories with more effective and cost-efficient human simulators. In addition, she explained how the federal sanctuary for chimpanzees she helped establish in 2000 is more important than ever, given the NIH's recent decision to end experiments on chimpanzees.

"I am proud to be recognized by PETA for my work on behalf of the humane treatment of animals, particularly my efforts to improve accountability for animal welfare and put a stop to wasteful government spending that exploits animals," said Rep. Roybal-Allard. "Constituents of all ages, ethnicities, genders, and political persuasions agree with me that we must speak up for our friends throughout the animal kingdom who have no voice. I am proud to represent my constituents on this very important issue."

"PETA is thrilled to recognize Representative Roybal-Allard for being an outstanding advocate for animals and taxpayers. She is leading critical efforts to ensure that government agencies are held accountable for abuses that take place on their watch, and that federal policies reflect the public's growing concern for animal protection," said Justin Goodman, PETA's Director of Laboratory Investigations, who presented Rep. Roybal-Allard with the award.

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