(April 17, 2026) – Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, sportsmen and women received an important victory with the removal of anti-hunting and dog training language from the House Farm Bill, entitled the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, following the release of the House Rules Committee Print. The removal of this language represents a significant win for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and millions of sportsmen and women who enjoy hunting and training dogs – our best hunting companions.
In late March, despite strong opposition from Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee G.T. Thompson, among other CSC Members, there was a successful late-night effort to add anti-hunting and dog training language to the Farm Bill that would have caused serious issues for sportsmen and women who hunt with and train dogs. Following this, CSF and our partners worked to see this language removed from the Farm Bill by leveraging our unique relationships with Members of the CSC, the largest bipartisan, bicameral Caucus in the United States Congress.
While the bill language of concern, known as the Greyhound Protection Act, appears on its face to be well-intentioned and narrowly focused on greyhound racing, this language is yet another purposefully misleading bill that has far-reaching implications for the millions of sportsmen who enjoy our time-honored traditions of training and hunting with dogs. As written, the bill would impact longstanding and lawful practices such as hunting with hounds and the use of live game in training hunting dogs – traditions that have absolutely no relation to “protecting greyhounds”.
“The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation thanks Chairman Thompson for removing the concerning language in the Greyhound Protection Act from the Farm Bill,” said Taylor Schmitz, CSF Senior Vice President. “This backdoor, late-night effort is nothing more than another desperate attempt by leading anti-hunting and animal rights activists to deceive Congress and the American public by portraying this language as something other than an effort to undermine our time-honored traditions of training and hunting with dogs.”
The House Farm Bill is likely to receive consideration in the House Rules Committee and a final vote on the House floor in the coming weeks.
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