Pelosi signs bill making animal cruelty a federal crime

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signed a bill on Friday that would make animal cruelty a federal crime, as bill co-sponsor Rep. Ted Deutch (R-Fla.) looked on while holding two dogs.

In a tweet, Pelosi said “Today, I was honored to sign @RepTedDeutch’s #PACTAct to make animal cruelty a federal offense.”

“Our furry friends, Milo and Prudence, were on hand to help me enroll this bipartisan legislation that will now go to the President’s desk!”

Today, I was honored to sign @RepTedDeutch’s #PACTAct to make animal cruelty a federal offense. Our furry friends, Milo and Prudence, were on hand to help me enroll this bipartisan legislation that will now go to the President’s desk! pic.twitter.com/3z35aMLRip

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 15, 2019

The bill, dubbed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, was introduced by Deutch.

It is a follow-up to the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act in 2010, and would ban animal crushing, or an act in which an animal “is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.”

The House version of the bill passed unanimously in late October, while the Senate version passed last week.