The senator, who has spoken out about animal-agriculture subsidies and worked on a bill to curtail testing on farmed animals, addressed how our sphere of connection may extend beyond other humans. "A good thing about this country is that we do have a consciousness, we really don't want to see unnecessary cruelty to animals, and we get upset - we've seen that in campaigns for dolphins, for other particular animals - that's why they have these 'ag-gag' laws'" that keep animal farming processes from the public eye.