Congresswoman Nancy Mace has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fulfill its commitment to end federally funded experiments on dogs and cats that cause pain or death.
“The NIH promised the American people they would end this taxpayer-funded animal cruelty and it appears they have not followed through on their promise,” said Congresswoman Mace. “Taxpayers are being forced to bankroll torturous experiments on puppies and cats, all disguised as ‘research.’ There is no excuse for this. These are not lab tools. These are our family, our pets. We will not remain silent while innocent animals are being tortured on the American taxpayers’ dime.”
According to records obtained by White Coat Waste, a non-profit watchdog group, despite a pledge in July 2025 by NIH leadership to phase out funding for harmful research involving dogs and cats, the agency continued awarding millions of dollars in grants during fiscal year 2025 for such experiments in both domestic and foreign laboratories.
Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President at White Coat Waste, stated: “No one in Washington has done more than Rep. Nancy Mace to hold the NIH accountable for Fauci’s painful experiments on kittens and puppies since White Coat Waste first exposed them, and we’re proud to work with her and the Trump administration to erase Fauci’s fingerprints from the NIH and put the final nail in the coffin of all NIH’s wasteful dog and cat labs in the U.S. and overseas.”
Reports indicate that as recently as January 2026, NIH renewed funding for projects that induce strokes in puppies and kittens, deliberately breed dogs to go blind or suffer bleeding disorders, and subject animals to other painful procedures using federal funds.
In her letter addressed to Secretary Kennedy, Rep. Mace requested a detailed update by February 20, 2026 regarding steps taken since July 2025 toward phasing out dog and cat research at NIH. She also called for an official policy barring new or ongoing projects from using NIH funds for harmful research involving these animals if such measures have not already been implemented.
Mace’s previous efforts include securing language in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act—signed into law last December—to halt these types of experiments at the Department of War. She has also introduced several bills aimed at ending taxpayer-funded animal testing—including legislation such as the PAAW Act, Violet’s Law, PRIMATES Act, and TRANS MICE Act—and chaired an oversight hearing focused on federal spending related to animal research practices.
Nancy Mace currently represents South Carolina’s 1st congressional district in Washington after replacing Joe Cunningham in 2021 (https://www.house.gov/representative/nancy-mace). She previously served in South Carolina’s state legislature from 2018-2020 before entering Congress (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/M001207). Born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1977, she resides in Charleston (https://mace.house.gov/about/biography). Mace graduated from The Citadel with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1999.
