While no one was watching, House Republicans defunded ACORN again.
WASHINGTON — The House GOP quietly blocked funding for ACORN last week, even though the anti-poverty organization has long since been both defunded and disbanded.
The legislative assault on ACORN, which shut down in 2010, was included in a Department of Defense appropriations bill that cleared the House on Thursday. Although the bill passed by a broad, bipartisan margin of 315-97, it garnered attention for an amendment proposed by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) that would have stopped the government from collecting masses of phone call metadata without reasonable suspicion.
Amash’s amendment failed, but language to bar ACORN from receiving any money made the final cut. Section 8097 of the bill reads, “None of the funds made available under this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries.”
At the time I mocked supporters of the Amash amendment because the appropriations bill also bars the president from closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, among other things, but I didn’t realize it would also defund ACORN again.
This just goes to show you that any Republican-backed legislation, especially if it originates in the House, should be viewed with the utmost skepticism. And even if you agree with the Amash amendment, you have to realize it would have been attached to a hulking anti-progressive boondoggle.
The House defense appropriations bill also restores cuts made to defense under sequestration by making cuts to other discretionary programs, and for this reason the White House has threatened to veto it.