The House and Senate each passed bills this week that would strip ACORN of taxpayer money, but it may not be so easy to halt federal funding for the scandal-tainted community organizing group.
FOXNews.com
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The House and Senate each passed bills this week that would strip ACORN of taxpayer money, but it may not be so easy to halt federal funding for the scandal-plagued community organizing group.
The measures to de-fund ACORN won the support of both Republicans and Democrats, but they were passed as amendments to separate, unrelated bills — setting up a potentially drawn-out process to reconcile the differences in the legislation.
But since the anti-ACORN measure has bipartisan support, why not simplify?
That’s the idea behind Republican House Minority Leader Boehner’s push for a stand-alone vote to ensure that taxpayer dollars will no longer be used to fund the organization, which has been reeling from a scandal involving undercover videos that purport to show ACORN workers advising a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute on how to skirt the law.
The House voted Thursday, 345-75, on a provision attached to a student aid bill to halt funding for the organization, which typically supports liberal causes. Democrats supplied all of the “no” votes, but even so, a majority backed the measure forwarded by Republicans. The Senate on Thursday passed a similar measure, 85-11, but it was attached to an Interior Department spending bill.
Rather than deal with the prospect of reconciling two versions of two different bills in the House and Senate, Boehner advocates passage of what he is calling the Defund ACORN Act.
“Now that the House has spoken in such resounding fashion, Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi should schedule an up-or-down vote,” Boehner said in a statement released Friday. “The sooner we can send the Defund ACORN Act as a stand-alone bill to the Senate, which has already voted to deny federal funds to this corrupt outfit, the sooner we can get it to the president’s desk,” he said…
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