markets in the US. In 2013 the Obama Administration proposed the removal of funding for USDA inspection of horse-slaughter plants in the 2014 fiscal year, which would prevent horse slaughter. Federal bills Slaughterhouses in the United States cannot legally operate without inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a federal agency. States are able to individually ban the slaughter of horses without federal approval, but the USDA operates through a federally-funded budget by the President and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees. Amending the budget to prohibit funding to the USDA for inspecting slaughterhouses processing horse meat as a means to block horse slaughter in the US at a federal level was introduced as a policy goal starting in 2005 . Using the budget to block inspection means that continuation of the ban is subject to review each year, and did not ensure that changes could not be made by future congresses. H.R. 2744-45 Sec 794, The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 2005-2006 was successfully passed to end funding for inspection, effectively ending the processing of horse meat in the US until a future government was willing to reinstate . The USDA resisted by creating a loophole with regulation CFR 352.19 which allowed existing slaughterhouses to pay inspectors directly instead of the agency relying on federal funding. This loophole was closed for Illinois and Texas, the states still engaging in horse slaughter, through a series of court rulings in 2007. In 2012, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013 excluded the wording necessary to continue blocking federal funds for USDA inspection of slaughterhouses processing horse meat In June of 2013 a New Mexico meat plant fulfilled the requirements for USDA inspection of their horse slaughter facility and reopened the horse slaughter debate in congress. In 2014 President Obama proposed and passed a budget that once again included language to prohibit horse slaughter in the U.S by defunding federal inspection budget. Efforts have been made to create a federal law ending the slaughter of American horses for human consumption. On September 8, 2006, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would have made killing or selling American horses for human consumption illegal in the United States; however, it was not passed by the Senate. Two bills, H.R. 503 in the House and S. 1915 in the