Davie blog

House votes BLM budget cut over wild horse dispute

RENO, Nev. – The U.S. House has approved an amendment on a voice vote that would cut $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management's budget in protest over the agency's wild horse roundups.

Indiana Republican Dan Burton says his amendment is intended to send a signal to agency officials that most Americans want the mustangs treated more humanely on public lands across the West.

Virginia Democrat Jim Moran says Congress passed a law 40 years ago to protect the horses on the range, but that today there are more than 40,000 in holding pens and only 30,000 in the wild.

Wyoming Republican Cynthia Lummis was among those opposed. She says the well-meaning horse advocates are "loving the creatures to death" by fueling overpopulation of herds that damage the rangeland they depend upon.