United States Congress has brought the debate over the possible resumption of horse slaughter in the US to a halt, revealing that federal funding for plant inspections is not included in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. The $1.1 trillion budget was signed by President Obama on January 17th.

Without an inspection by the US Department of Agriculture, companies are prohibited from slaughtering horses and selling their meat. This decision will not, however, prevent American horses from being shipped outside of the country for slaughter.

In 2007, this funding was also pulled, but it resumed in 2011. Since then, several companies have been fighting to resume horse meat production to no avail.