Call it the "Starve the French" bill

From today's Birmingham News:

WASHINGTON - A proposed ban on slaughtering horses in the United States is scheduled for a vote Thursday, and Alabama's congressional delegation is divided between the arguments of animal welfare groups for the ban and the opposition of farm groups that fear a dangerous precedent.

Three plants in Texas and Illinois process horse meat for human consumption overseas, but the legislation pending in the U.S. House would make it a crime to transport or sell horses for that purpose.