Mustang meat sales in big spending bill.(Evening)

Byline: James W. Brosnan brosnanj@shns.com / (202) 408-2701

WASHINGTON - A provision of a $388 billion spending bill could mean cheaper meat for the French from American wild horses.

Key New Mexico lawmakers said they were unaware of the provision ending a 33-year-old ban on the sale of wild horses to slaughterhouses until after it was sent to President Bush, who signed it into law Wednesday.

Sen. Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, stuck the language into the spending bill without notice to Sen. Pete Domenici, the Albuquerque Republican who is chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, which has jurisdiction over the wild horse program, or Sen. Jeff …