A bill that would ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in foreign countries could be voted on in the United States Senate after being discharged from the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday.

The committee voted 15-7 in favor of S311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which also prohibits the transportation of horses outside of the United States for slaughter. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La) and John Ensign (R-NV).

“Until Congress acts, horses are being hauled under horrible conditions across the border to Mexico and Canada, where they are brutally slaughtered,” Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director of the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, said. “The AHSPA is their only hope.”

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 100,800 horses were slaughtered last year at foreign-owned plants in DeKalb, Illinois, and Fort Worth and Kaufman, Texas.

The Texas plants were recently forced to cease slaughter operations after an appellate court upheld a Texas law that makes it illegal to sell, possess, and transport horsemeat for sale for human consumption overseas. The Illinois plant stopped slaughtering horses after a federal court ruled it is illegal for slaughterhouses to pay the USDA for inspection costs.

“We have this law in place in California…since 1998,” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca) said. “The people voted for it, and the state has seen no increase in neglect and no abandoned horses—and this is from the largest state in the union.”

S311 was introduced at the beginning of the current Congressional session along with HR503, a companion bill in the House of Representatives. Last year, a similar measure was passed by the House 263-146 but was not voted on before Congress adjourned in December.