{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-and-17-congressional-colleagues-seek-gao-review-blm", "Congressman Cohen and 17 Congressional Colleagues Seek GAO Review of BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program", "2026-09-18", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", "cohen", "https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01) and 16 of their colleagues sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Thursday requesting a review of the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program following reports that wild horses have been slaughtered. Supporters of the letter include Congressional Wild Horse Caucus Co-Chairs Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), Congressman Cohen, and Mark Pocan (WI-02) as well as Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. The letter is endorsed by American Wild Horse Conservation.\n\n\u201cThe Administration knows what it is doing. It is circumventing the law to benefit landowners who want to get rid of all the wild horses, which are an American heritage that we should value. More oversight is needed,\u201d said Congressman Cohen.\n\n\u201cWe now know what we have long suspected \u2014 that the BLM has been selling off wild horses that end up in slaughterhouses,\u201d said Congresswoman Dina Titus, Co-Chair of the Congressional Wild Horse Caucus. \u201cThis practice must end now. I am leading my Congressional colleagues in demanding an investigation of the Wild Horse and Burro Sale Program to ensure wild horses and burros received the protections they are guaranteed by federal law.\"\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s long past time to fix the ongoing failures in how America\u2019s wild horses are managed. For years, across both Republican and Democrat administrations, we\u2019ve seen alarming reports of hostility toward these animals and serious questions about how the Bureau of Land Management is carrying out its responsibilities. This cannot be a partisan issue. It\u2019s a stewardship issue. I\u2019m proud to join this bipartisan effort to demand accountability, protect our wild horses, and push for real solutions that address the problem head-on.\u201d said Congressman Juan Ciscomani\n\n\u201cOur laws demand that we protect wild horses, not send them to slaughter. Congress has always worked in a bipartisan manner to protect these animals, and we need accountability and oversight at the Bureau of Land Management immediately. We hope this request will force the Administration to do the right thing,\u201d said Congressman Mark Pocan.\n\n\u201cWild horses are a national treasure. Year after year, Congress has barred the Bureau of Land Management from slaughtering them. Yet now there is a concerning report that Trump\u2019s agency is recklessly selling wild horses to buyers who slaughter them. I am calling on GAO to investigate,\u201d said Senator Cory Booker.\n\n\u201cThe GAO investigation is a critical step toward uncovering and eliminating abuses within the Sale Authority Program, abuses documented through AWHC\u2019s longstanding investigation and recently brought to national attention by The New York Times. No federal program should allow America\u2019s treasured and legally protected wild horses and burros to be funneled into the slaughter pipeline\u201d, said Patricia Miller, Chair, Board of Directors & Executive Director, American Wild Horse Conservation. \u201cWe are deeply grateful to Representative Dina Titus and her fellow Congressional Wild Horse Caucus co-chairs, Representatives Ciscomani, Cohen, and Pocan, for leading this essential oversight effort and advancing the agency accountability and lasting reform necessary to ensure these animals receive the protections promised to them under federal law.\u201d\n\nThe letter states: \u201cThis request is particularly urgent in light of recent reporting by The New York Times detailing how changes in the BLM\u2019s management of wild horses and burros could exploit a legal loophole to facilitate their movement into the slaughter pipeline. The reporting raises renewed concerns about whether BLM's Sale Program is being used to circumvent longstanding congressional protections intended to prevent federally protected wild horses and burros from being sold or otherwise funneled into slaughter.\n\n\u201cA comprehensive GAO review would provide Congress with an independent assessment of whether BLM's current practices adequately protect federally managed wild horses and burros, comply with congressional directives, and appropriately safeguard taxpayer resources. It would also build upon GAO's prior examination of BLM's wild horse management and sales practices, allowing Congress to determine whether safeguards remain effective nearly two decades later.\n\n\u201cMost importantly, this review would help Congress determine whether the Sale Program is functioning as a legitimate placement mechanism or has become a pathway through which federally protected wild horses and burros can predictably enter the slaughter pipeline after title transfers. The recent reporting in The New York Times, together with BLM's expanded reliance on removals and sales, makes an independent examination especially timely.\n\n\u201cGAO's findings would provide Congress with the factual basis necessary to strengthen safeguards, improve reporting requirements, ensure compliance with appropriations restrictions and the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, and consider additional statutory changes where necessary.\u201d\n\nThe letter asks the GAO to address the following issues:\n\nImplementation of Sale Authority\n\nHow has BLM implemented its Sale Authority, including \"sales without limitation,\" since enactment of the 2004 amendments to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act?\n\nHow many horses and burros have been sold annually under Sale Authority since 2004, and what trends have emerged over time?\n\nHow has BLM's reliance on sales changed following implementation of \"The Path Forward\" and the substantial increase in congressional funding for removals?\n\nTo what extent do current group and individual sales operate differently from the historical \"sales without limitation\" that Congress sought to restrict through appropriations language?\n\nPurchaser Screening and Internal Controls\n\nWhat policies, procedures, and internal controls govern purchaser screening, approval, monitoring, and post-sale oversight?\n\nHow does BLM identify and manage high-risk or repeat purchasers?\n\nDoes BLM maintain records of individuals or entities that have purchased large numbers of horses or burros over time, including purchases made through related individuals or entities?\n\nWhat mechanisms exist to identify purchasers with connections to livestock auctions, kill buyers, brokers, slaughter facilities, or other high-risk entities?\n\nHow frequently has BLM investigated allegations that sold animals entered slaughter channels, and what enforcement actions, including repossessions, purchaser suspensions, or debarments, have resulted?\n\nPost-Sale Outcomes and Enforcement\n\nWhat information does BLM collect regarding the disposition of horses and burros after title transfers?\n\nTo what extent can BLM determine whether sold animals ultimately enter commercial slaughter channels?\n\nUnder what circumstances does BLM have authority to repossess or otherwise recover an animal after a sale?\n\nWhat criteria does BLM use to determine whether to intervene when a sold horse or burro is subsequently identified at an auction, kill pen, or other slaughter-related facility?\n\nHow many horses and burros has BLM repossessed following a sale during the past ten years, and what circumstances led to those actions?\n\nHow many purchasers have been suspended, debarred, or otherwise restricted during the same period?\n\nDoes BLM distinguish between adoption and sale outcomes when reporting placement success to Congress and the public?\n\nCompliance with Congressional Direction\n\nIs BLM administering the Sale Program in a manner consistent with annual appropriations language prohibiting the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros or their sale for processing into commercial products?\n\nAre BLM's current sales practices consistent with the purpose and intent of congressional restrictions on \"sales without limitation\"?\n\nDoes BLM have adequate safeguards to prevent sales that it knows, or reasonably should know, are likely to result in animals entering the slaughter pipeline?\n\nTo what extent could current Sale Authority practices undermine congressional prohibitions by transferring animals to purchasers who subsequently resell them for slaughter?\n\nAre current policies and oversight mechanisms sufficient to ensure that federally protected animals are not predictably diverted into slaughter?\n\nProgram Management and Congressional Oversight\n\nWhat relationship exists between BLM's removal targets, off-range holding population, adoption rates, and reliance on sales?\n\nHas BLM evaluated whether its current removal and sale strategies create incentives to prioritize rapid disposal over durable placement outcomes?\n\nWhat statutory, regulatory, administrative, or reporting changes would strengthen congressional oversight and accountability?\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-19T09:11:33Z", "2026-09-19T09:12:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cohen-and-17-congressional-colleagues-seek-gao-review-blm"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.7068499475717545, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}