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To amend the Animal Welfare Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to entities for purposes of supporting the capability of such entities to provide care to animals in their care, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to establish a federal grant program that awards funds to animal shelters and similar entities to improve their capability to care for animals in their facilities. Grants can be used for purposes including animal feeding and sheltering, veterinary care, recreational activities, and hiring and training shelter staff. Grants are awarded for terms of up to three years and are renewable if the recipient submits required reports. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to submit annual reports to Congress on how the grant funds are being used by recipients to improve animal care.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Veronica Escobar’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $13,980
- INVARIANT $10,100
- HUNT COMPANIES INC. $9,900
- TRI-STATE COSMETOLOGY INSTITUTE $9,100
- WESTSTAR BANK $8,850
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Veronica Escobar → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Jan 13, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry. · house
- Aug 22, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Aug 22, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 22, 2025
Ms. Escobar (for herself, Ms. Garcia of Texas, and Mr. Krishnamoorthi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to entities for purposes of supporting the capability of such entities to provide care to animals in their care, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Supporting Our Shelters Act”.
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SUPPORT ANIMAL SHELTERS.
Section 28 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2158) is amended by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following:
“(d) Grants To Support Animal Shelters.—
“(1) In general.—The Secretary shall establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to entities described in subsection (a)(2) for purposes of supporting the capability of such entities to provide care to animals in their care, including feeding, sheltering, veterinary care, recreational activities, and the hiring, training, and retention of staff to provide such care.
“(2) Term.—The term of a grant under this subsection shall not exceed 3 years. Such term is renewable if the grantee submits a report to the Secretary under paragraph (4) prior to the expiration of the respective term.
“(3) Report to secretary.—Beginning not later than 180 days after the date on which the first grant is awarded under this subsection and each year thereafter, each recipient of a grant under this subsection shall submit to the Secretary a detailed accounting of—
“(A) the number of each species taken into the shelter and the outcome for each species during the period covered by the report; and
“(B) how the recipient of the grant used grant funds during the period covered by the report.
“(4) Report to congress.—Beginning not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection and each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report on the program under paragraph (1), including an accounting of how the funds made available to carry out this subsection were used by recipients of grants under this subsection to improve animal care.
“(e) Regulations.—The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of subsection (d), the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out such subsection.”. <all>
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