The American Horse Council (AHC) released its second, or pre-election, scorecard for the 117th Congress (January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023).
The AHC scorecard examines and reports on legislation important to the equine industry. It identifies issues of significance based on internal analysis and member input. Points are assigned to individual legislators based on their level of support and recorded votes. This is a non-partisan process. Only proposals that have earned consensus among our members are tabulated.
Speaking on the importance of the scorecard, Julie Broadway, President of the American Horse Council, remarked, “The equine industry was confronted with many challenges during the past two years. The pandemic, supply chain disruptions, worker shortages, taxes, public land access were among the focus of our advocacy efforts. Fortunately, the AHC did not stand alone while trying to find remedies and solutions. We were able to count on our friends in Congress for assistance. To acknowledge our ‘champions,’ we now release our AHC Legislative Scorecard.”
Broadway offered her congratulations and thanks to the top ten AHC champions in both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Senate Champions
- Senator John Barrasso (R-WY)
- Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
- Senator Steve Daines (R-MT)
- Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD)
- Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
- Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS)
- Senator Ron Wyden (R-OR)
House of Representative Champions
- Representative Andy Barr (R-6-KY)
- Representative Ted Budd (R-13-NC)
- Representative Henry Cuellar (D-28-TX)
- Representative Andy Garbarino (R-2-NY)
- Representative Andy Harris (R-1-MD)
- Representative Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-3-WA)
- Representative Ashley Hinson (R-1-IA)
- Representative Richard Hudson (R-8-NC)
- Representative Billy Long (R-7-MO)
- Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-3-MO)
A Note on Methodology:
The American Horse Council identifies and evaluates legislation that earns consensus among its diverse membership. Issue areas that unite the industry include, but are not limited to, federal resources for Equine Assisted Services (EAS), animal welfare issues arising under the Horse Protection Act (HPA), labor flexibility, tax flexibility, electronic logging device (ELD) flexibility, trails access, USDA resources to promote equine programs, and others that may emerge as the legislative process of the 117th Congress moves toward adjournment.
The evaluation process entails developing a list of “priority legislation” and identifying congressional sponsors and co-sponsors. From this broad list, AHC assigns points based on a lawmaker’s degree of support for priority bills and other factors listed below. From this point system, we declare a smaller pool of “industry champions.”
Factor
- “Original” co-sponsor, aka “champion,” of priority bill – Two Points
- Co-sponsorship of priority bills – One Point
- Membership in the Congressional Horse Caucus – One Point
- Chairmanship role in the Congressional Horse Caucus – Two Points
- “Visibility” of the lawmaker, or participation in AHC – One Point
- Events (One point per event)
- Whether the lawmaker demonstrates a general “open-door” policy for the horse industry – One Point
While the scorecard does not formally assign points for representation of the “Top Ten” states by equine population, AHC monitors and pays special attention to congressional delegations from Texas, California, Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Colorado.
For more information on the methodology and to find out how your congressional delegation scored, contact info@horsecoucil.org
About the American Horse Council
As the national association representing all segments of the horse industry in Washington, D.C., the American Horse Council works daily to represent equine interests and opportunities. Organized in 1969, the AHC promotes and protects the industry by communicating with Congress, federal agencies, the media and the industry on behalf of all horse related interests each and every day.
The US equine industry contributes $122B in total value added to the US economy annually and employees 1.7M people. In total 30.5% of 38M US households contain a horse enthusiast.
