Iowa Congressman Steve King says a move to ban the slaughter of horses for food is a waste of Congress’ time. He points out in several other countries around the globe, people like to eat horsemeat. King says the horses are unwanted animals that won’t be taken care of, so U.S. plants that slaughter in a “respectful, decent” manner prevent the animals from being killed to make dogfood, or turned out to pasture.

King says Iowans have a more realistic view of livestock and how to handle animals. He points out if the three plants in the country preparing horse meat for export are closed, it’ll leave 100-thousand horses a year that would have been sent for slaughter. King says with no way to dispose of them, the animals would eat pasture or crops that could be used to make ethanol.