{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pocan-langworthy-lead-34-members-letter-sec-kennedy-strengthening-nih", "Pocan, Langworthy Lead 34 Members with Letter to Sec. Kennedy on Strengthening NIH Policy on Animal Testing", "2026-05-26", "2026", "2026-05", "Democrat", "House", "WI", "Mark Pocan", "P000607", "pocan.house.gov", "pocan", "https://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02) and Nick Langworthy (NY-23) lead a letter with 34 bipartisan House members to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., urging him to strengthen NIH's policy for determining eligibility to receive federal funding related to acquiring animals for NIH-supported research. This letter was prompted by the case of Ridglan Farms, a commercial beagle breeding facility in Wisconsin that was cited by the state for hundreds of counts of animal welfare violations in September 2025 and subsequently agreed to surrender its state commercial breeding license. Despite this, Ridglan continues to hold a USDA Class A license, which, under current NIH policy, is the sole factor used to determine a facility's eligibility to supply animals in NIH-funded research.\n\n\u201cWe write to express our concerns regarding current policy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that may unintentionally allow for federal funding to continue to benefit facilities that are engaging in the mistreatment of animals,\u201d the Members wrote. \u201cBuilding upon work to reduce and ultimately eliminate unnecessary animal testing within federally funded research, including launching a Food and Drug Administration roadmap to phase down mandatory animal testing in April 2025, we urge you to take immediate action to update current policy regarding the use and acquisition of dogs in NIH-supported research.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs you are aware, Ridglan Farms is a large-scale beagle breeding facility in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, which continues to hold a USDA Class A breeding license despite extensive evidence of animal welfare violations,\u201d the Members continued. \u201cThere may be an opportunity to further strengthen NIH\u2019s current policy for determining a facility\u2019s eligibility to benefit from NIH-supported research, particularly by considering additional factors beyond whether a facility holds a USDA Class A license. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) holds the authority to review and update this internal policy and should consider additional factors, including whether a facility has received state-level animal welfare citations or surrendered an equivalent state-level license.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs you know, current NIH policy regarding the use and acquisition of dogs in NIH-supported research was last updated in 2013, when the agency ended the practice of using \u201crandom-source\u201d dogs in federally funded research,\u201d the Members go on to say. \u201cSince then, researchers have largely turned to USDA Class A dealers, which are larger, commercial animal breeding operations, when determining eligibility for federally funded animal research. Officials at the NIH have indicated that the Class A license is the sole factor taken into account when making such determinations. Considering additional animal welfare information identified through state enforcement actions may help ensure federally funded research continues to meet the highest ethical standards.\u201d\n\n\u201cHHS should consider additional steps to ensure that a USDA Class A license is not the only factor taken into account when determining whether a breeding facility is eligible to receive NIH funding or provide animals to NIH-supported research projects. As the Ridglan Farms case has demonstrated, reviewing these policies may help ensure federally funded research continues to meet the highest ethical and animal welfare standards,\u201d the Members concluded.\n\nA digital copy of the letter can befound here.", 1, "2026-06-27T21:44:12Z", "2026-06-27T22:21:02Z"]], "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://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/pocan-langworthy-lead-34-members-letter-sec-kennedy-strengthening-nih"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.543781952932477, "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"}