The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to eliminate federal funding of ACORN, a community organizer group that has recently come under fire for giving tax fraud advice to amateur investigators who posed as a “prostitute” and “pimp” seeking help with housing.
The House vote was 345–75 in support of the Defund ACORN Act, legislation introduced by House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, which will sever federal financial support to ACORN.
“Today’s overwhelming bi-partisan vote to stop all federal funding of ACORN is a victory for American taxpayers,” said Representative Boehner in a statement released after the vote. “We need to keep up the fight to end taxpayer funding for this troubled organization.”
Of the 345 who voted to pass the bill, 172 were Democrats and 173 were Republicans. All 75 votes against passage were Democratic, with 2 Democrats voting “present.”
Ohio Democratic Rep. Zack Space also spoke out against ACORN. “I am outraged at the actions of ACORN’s employees and believe they should be penalized to the full extent of the law,” he said, as quoted in the Newark Advocate.
The Defund ACORN Act is technically an amendment to and a “motion to recommit” H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. The amended bill specifies that no “Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or any other form of agreement” may be entered into with ACORN.
ACORN, on its Web site, says it “does not apply for nor does it receive any federal grants,” but “has had contracts with other nonprofit organizations to perform work on projects which received federal grant support.”
The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature before becoming law.
The passage of the Act is the latest reaction to video showing ACORN staffers providing tax advice to Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, a college student and filmmaker, respectively, who pretended to be a prostitute and pimp seeking housing assistance from the community group.
The two filmed ACORN employees in branch offices in Washington D.C, Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, and San Bernardino, California.
In the videos Giles and O'Keefe were given unsolicited instructions on how to set themselves up as a legitimate business, and, after telling an ACORN staffer they were bringing in 13 underage girls as prostitutes, the two received guidance on how to write the girls off as dependents for tax purposes.
To view the videos and for more information, visit: http://biggovernment.com.
The House vote was 345–75 in support of the Defund ACORN Act, legislation introduced by House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, which will sever federal financial support to ACORN.
“Today’s overwhelming bi-partisan vote to stop all federal funding of ACORN is a victory for American taxpayers,” said Representative Boehner in a statement released after the vote. “We need to keep up the fight to end taxpayer funding for this troubled organization.”
Of the 345 who voted to pass the bill, 172 were Democrats and 173 were Republicans. All 75 votes against passage were Democratic, with 2 Democrats voting “present.”
Ohio Democratic Rep. Zack Space also spoke out against ACORN. “I am outraged at the actions of ACORN’s employees and believe they should be penalized to the full extent of the law,” he said, as quoted in the Newark Advocate.
The Defund ACORN Act is technically an amendment to and a “motion to recommit” H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. The amended bill specifies that no “Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or any other form of agreement” may be entered into with ACORN.
ACORN, on its Web site, says it “does not apply for nor does it receive any federal grants,” but “has had contracts with other nonprofit organizations to perform work on projects which received federal grant support.”
The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature before becoming law.
The passage of the Act is the latest reaction to video showing ACORN staffers providing tax advice to Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, a college student and filmmaker, respectively, who pretended to be a prostitute and pimp seeking housing assistance from the community group.
The two filmed ACORN employees in branch offices in Washington D.C, Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, and San Bernardino, California.
In the videos Giles and O'Keefe were given unsolicited instructions on how to set themselves up as a legitimate business, and, after telling an ACORN staffer they were bringing in 13 underage girls as prostitutes, the two received guidance on how to write the girls off as dependents for tax purposes.
To view the videos and for more information, visit: http://biggovernment.com.
