{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/continuing-push-to-pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat-for-missouri-small-business-owners_mccaskill-urges-commonsense-exemption-for-animal-handlers", "Continuing Push to Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat for Missouri Small Business Owners,  McCaskill Urges Commonsense Exemption for Animal Handlers", "2017-11-28", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Continuing Push to Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat for Missouri Small Business Owners,  McCaskill Urges Commonsense Exemption for Animal Handlers \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senator asks for Department of Agriculture exemption to rule requiring small scale animal exhibitors\u2014including magicians  with rabbits\u2014to have license from the federal government and government-approved disaster plan \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTuesday, November 28, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013 U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is continuing to tell federal regulators to hop on a commonsense fix for Missouri small business owners facing unnecessary regulations from a requirement that animal handlers\u2014including magicians with a small number of rabbits\u2014must have a federal government license and a government-approved plan for those animals.\r\nWatch a short video on\u00a0The Act of the Disappearing Regulation.\r\n\u201cThis is a prime example of burdensome federal regulation that lacks basic common sense,\u201d McCaskill wrote to the Department of Agriculture\u2019s undersecretary in charge of regulation. \u201c\u2026The idea that any magician who keeps a limited number of rabbits or other common animals at home needs federal government licenses to do so flies in the face of common sense and can serve only to alienate well-meaning citizens from the many important roles and functions of the federal government. Therefore I urge you to finalize a rule to clearly exempt these operations that have no business being regulated by the USDA.\u201d\r\nEarlier this year, McCaskill also asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for a \u201ccommonsense\u201d exemption to\u00a0the rule, highlighting the absurdity of a government requirement that a magician must have a license and federally-approved emergency plan for a rabbit that is part of a magic show.\u00a0McCaskill also urged the same action\u00a0last year from former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.\r\nMcCaskill\u2019s letters have highlighted that the\u00a02014 Farm Bill\u2014which she helped pass into law after inaction from U.S. House Republicans\u2014\u201c[recognizes] the ridiculousness of the situation\u201d by providing an exemption for these magicians which would no longer require them to develop and submit a comprehensive disaster plan to cover the care of a rabbit under the\u00a0Animal Welfare Act. After a more than two-year delay, the Agriculture Department has yet to finalize this exemption.\r\nMcCaskill\u2019s letter also urges the lifting of the USDA\u2019s import ban on Mexican sheep \u2013 a request she heard from several Missouri farmers at her town hall forums across the state this summer.\r\nMcCaskill is a longtime advocate for eliminating waste and duplication in government\u2014working to\u00a0eliminate\u00a0a redundant pesticide approvals process for Missouri\u2019s farmers and ranchers, and passing provisions of the\u00a0Federal Permitting Improvement Act, along with Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, that streamlines and speeds up the federal permitting process for the largest and most complex projects, which were laden with an uncoordinated federal review process.\r\nFull text of the letter\u00a0HERE.\r\nVisit\u00a0mccaskill.senate.gov/jobs\u00a0to learn more about McCaskill\u2019s fight to boost job opportunities for Missouri.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/continuing-push-to-pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat-for-missouri-small-business-owners_mccaskill-urges-commonsense-exemption-for-animal-handlers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.795558724552393, "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"}