On one hand this is genuinely hilarious for all the wrong reasons, and on the other hand it’s depressing for all the right reasons.
The omnibus spending bill unveiled last night by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) defunds ACORN not once, not twice, not three, but four times.
House Appropriations Committee spokesperson Jennifer Hing, who was not immediately available to comment, has repeatedly described the ACORN funding language as a standard provision included in appropriations bills.
Not every appropriations bill carries such a provision, however, and while the legislative language tends to be boilerplate, it takes multiple forms. The current appropriations bill contains three distinct versions of the ban on government money to ACORN, each with a minor difference. One of the versions shows up twice.
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but ACORN dissolved four years ago in 2010. There is no ACORN. House Republicans are legislating the beating of a dead horse. A horse that they killed.