Joe loves animals. His family includes six horses, three cats, and a dog. Few things disgust him more than cruelty to animals. Because animals cannot speak up for themselves, if he is elected, he will give them a voice and a vote in Congress.

Preventing stray dogs and cats from being sold to medical laboratories. Federal law currently allows stray animals to be sold to laboratories for experimentation. Joe would support the bipartisan Pet Safety and Protection Act to ensure that stray dogs and cats—who may be lost family pets—are never sold to laboratories.

Helping animal shelters become no-kill. In 2022, an estimated 378,000 dogs and cats were killed in our nation's animal shelters. Congress can help shelters across the country reach no-kill status by providing grants to track the number of animals that enter shelters against the number that are placed in safe homes. This data will help shelters accurately measure the scope of the problem and develop better strategies to find permanent homes for the animals in their care. Congress can also help lower the cost of pet adoption by creating a tax credit for pet adoption fees. As your representative, Joe will support legislation that helps animal shelters find safe homes for the dogs and cats in their care.

Stopping the Slaughter of American Horses. Few animals represent Americans' pioneering spirit better than our horses. Unfortunately, each year, tens of thousands of horses are exported to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico where they are abused and killed. As a horse owner who cares for horses on his own farm, Joe is sickened by this cruelty and will champion the bipartisan Save America's Forgotten Equines Act to stop this gruesome practice once and for all. 

Incentivizing sustainable farming over factory farming of animals. America is too reliant on factory farming that subjects farm animals to inhumane conditions. To change this, we must create a food system that prevents unnecessary animal suffering. Joe supports tackling this problem by awarding grants to farmers to transition to business models that treat animals humanely, and, if elected, would support Senator Cory Booker's Farm System Reform Act.

Fighting Animal Cruelty. Since 1966, federal law has set minimum standards for the care of animals in the care of animal dealers and research laboratories. The law has been amended several times over the years to strengthen protections, but the available remedies and resources for enforcement have consistently been inadequate. In Congress, Joe would support the Better CARE for Animals Act which would grant the Department of Justice the power to seek license revocations, civil penalties, and the use of forfeiture to seize and remove animals living under inhumane conditions. 

Meet Joe’s four-legged family members :