The United States Department of Agriculture has sent a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget for White House clearance according to a blog post by Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS.  The exact details of the proposed rule have not been released publicly but it is thought to include many provisions of the HSUS written PAST Act.  The PAST Act calls for a ban of pads and action devices as well as the elimination of Horse Industry Organizations (HIOs), turning complete enforcement of the HPA over to the federal government.

The HSUS has a tremendous amount of influence at the USDA and spent over $700,000 in support of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's wife's campaign for Congress in Iowa.  In spite of the negative ads run against Steve King, he beat Christie Vilsack in that campaign.  The ads run by HSUS were pulled because of the false statements contained in those ads.

The step by USDA of sending the proposed rule directly to the White House is an important step before the rule would be released for public comment.  Although there is no factual basis for the elimination of the pad and action device in the soring debate, the HSUS has continued to place the emphasis on this equipment to eliminate the Walking Horse breed.  In fact, all scientific evidence concludes the pad and action device do not harm the horse in any way.

To view the blog post by Pacelle, visit the HSUS at www.hsus.org.