Anti-Cruelty Laws and Public Health at Risk: Stop Harmful Farm Bill Provisions

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If you’ve fought to pass laws like California’s Proposition 12 or worked to end extreme confinement on factory farms, Congress is now moving to undo that progress.

The House of Representatives has advanced the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026—and it includes sweeping provisions that could dismantle some of the strongest animal welfare protections in the country.

At the center of the bill is language similar to the “Save Our Bacon Act” (H.R. 4673), which is aimed at overturning state-level animal welfare laws like California's Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3.

These laws were passed by voters to ensure that animals raised for food are not confined in cages so small they cannot turn around or lie down comfortably.

If enacted, these provisions would override those voter-approved standards and severely limit states’ ability to set humane conditions for agricultural products sold within their borders.

The bill also includes measures that would expand taxpayer support for the mink farming industry, despite well-documented concerns about both animal welfare and serious public health risks.

Mink raised in intensive confinement have been at the center of repeated disease outbreaks, including COVID-19, where the virus spread rapidly through crowded facilities and, in some cases, mutated and transmitted back to humans. Public health experts have warned that these conditions create ongoing pandemic risks, as high-density animal populations can serve as reservoirs for infectious diseases. Providing federal support to this industry not only raises ethical concerns about the treatment of animals confined in small wire cages, but also contradicts lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic about preventing future zoonotic outbreaks.

More broadly, the legislation reinforces the current industrial model of animal agriculture without adding meaningful animal welfare safeguards—leaving millions of animals in extreme confinement systems with little federal oversight.

While advocates successfully removed one harmful provision affecting dogs in puppy mills during committee markup, the bill still contains sweeping rollbacks that would impact farmed animals nationwide.

As the bill moves, senators will decide whether to uphold basic humane standards—or override them.

Contact your senators today and urge them to:

• Oppose any provisions that preempt state animal welfare laws

• Reject subsidies for industries with serious animal welfare concerns, including mink farming

• Support a Farm Bill that respects voter-approved protections and advances humane standards

Congress should not override voter-approved protections or subsidize cruelty—tell your senators to oppose these provisions before the bill reaches the House floor.

Thank you for all that you do,

Mitch w/ Animal Commons

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Photo credit Kathy Milani / Humane World for Animals