By Kathleen Hunter CQ Staff
Democrats in Congress are abandoning an embattled community organizing group after Republicans stepped up attacks on the liberal-leaning ACORN and the federal funding it receives. The group has come under heavy criticism following the release of a video showing ACORN employees apparently advising a couple posing as a prostitute accompanied by her pimp about how to conceal their line of work evade taxes and handle undocumented under-age sex workers. Last week the Census Bureau ended an unpaid partnership with ACORN to publicize the decennial federal census saying it no longer had confidence" that the groups local offices were being managed well.
Majorities of Senate and House Democrats also voted in favor of separate Republican proposals Thursday to block federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
In the Senate 45 Democrats and Joseph I. Lieberman I-Conn. backed an amendment offered by Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns to bar any funds provided under the fiscal 2010 Interior Appropriations bill (HR 2996) to go to ACORN.
Even with
Dianne Feinstein D-Calif. chairwoman of the relevant appropriations panel insisting that the spending bill provided no funds to the group the Senate adopted the amendment 85-11.
Hours earlier the House voted 345-75 to adopt a procedural motion by California Republican Darrell Issa adding language to a student-loan bill (HR 3221) requiring no federal funding be directed to ACORN. On the vote 172 Democrats joined 173 Republicans backing the move.
Now that some of the abusive practices are finally coming to light I think its galvanized public opinion and its reflected in the votes of members of Congress" said Texas Sen.
John Cornyn chairman of the
National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Thursday for a thorough investigation of the group yet another sign that Democrats who defended ACORN previously are now distancing themselves in the wake of the release of the hidden-camera video produced by a conservative activist and played repeatedly on cable networks and YouTube.
A few people have embarrassed ACORN" Pelosi D-Calif. said referring to the employees captured on the video. We have to have our own investigation."
Cornyn on Thursday sent a letter signed by 27 other Republican senators to Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. requesting public hearings and a congressional investigation into ACORNs activities. Reid voted Thursday in
favor of the Johanns amendment after backing another he offered Sept. 14 to a separate spending bill.
Jim Manley Reids spokesman called the allegations against the group serious" and noted they are being handled by law enforcement and the court system. Surely Sen. Cornyn believes that the investigations should proceed without interference to preserve the integrity of the process" Manley said.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio pressed for that chambers vote saying earlier Thursday: We need to stop giving money to this corrupt gang immediately."
Boehner noted that Thursdays successful vote that came on a procedural move a motion to recommit on the student loan bill could have been ruled out of order by the majority because it was not germane to the measure.
But he said the bills chief sponsor Rep. George Miller D-Calif. and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer D-Md. didnt block the move because they recognized if they tried to stop this on a point of order theyd lose."
In both chambers Republicans have introduced stand-alone bills (HR 3571 S 1687) that would end all federal funding to ACORN. An analysis conducted by Boehners office reported the group has received $53 million in federal funds since 1994.
The GOP-led drive to cut off ACORNs federal funding also played out at the committee level.
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rescind a nearly $1 million fire safety and prevention grant awarded to ACORN this month.
Johanns who introduced the separate Senate bill Thursday said he will continue to offerand insist on recorded votes on amendments blocking ACORN funding to each of the fiscal 2010 appropriations bill the Senate considers.
This is an organization that keeps digging only they keep digging themselves in a bigger hole" Johanns said. The problem that ACORN has is just a cumulative effect. Its caught up with them...I think finally to the credit of the Senate senators just walked in and said enough is enough. "
Earlier this week even more Democrats joined Republicans in support a Johanns amendment barring any funding for ACORN in the fiscal 2010 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill (HR 3288). In the Sept. 14 vote 49 Democrats and Lieberman sided with 33 Republicans to approve the amendment.
One Democrat who had opposed anti-ACORN amendments in the past Wisconsins Russ Feingold said the recent revelations changed his mind.
I felt it was time to send something of a message that theres concern" Feingold said. It was specifically not about politics. It was about bad policy."
Some Defenders Remain
Not all Democrats joined the legislative activity directed against ACORN.
It may be that ACORN is guilty of various infractions and if so they should be investigated" said Rep. Jerrold Nadler D-N.Y. Thursday.
Many of ACORNs Democratic defenders hail from urban states and districts. Illinois Sen. Roland W. Burris for example described the Republicans
amendments as a political ploy a plot to destroy ACORN."
You have to get rid of the bad apples but you cant destroy the whole organization" said Burris adding that ACORN does a good job. They work with poor people they deal with issues that are beneficial to the community. They help senior citizens."
Among the 11 Democrats opposing the Johanns amendment Thursday was New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who has been working to shore up a shaky relationship with more liberal factions of the Democratic Party in her state in advance of her election next year.
Another was Sen. Patrick J. Leahy D-Vt. Judiciary Committee chairman. Leahy said while he was repulsed" by the allegations against ACORN cutting off funding to the group was not the appropriate response.
Leahy said if the allegations against ACORN employees prove to be true the employees involved could be prosecuted.
In an e-mail Thursday Bertha Lewis the chief executive officer of ACORN said the organization is conducting an investigation of the incidents and denounced the behavior of the ACORN employees captured on the video.
Not Always Running for Cover
This weeks votes show Democratic support for ACORN eroding something not seen after the group was accused of voter fraud for its role in a large-scale voter registration drive during the 2008 presidential election.
On Feb. 6 for example the Senate rejected 45-51 a proposal from David Vitter R-La. to prohibit money in the economic stimulus bill (PL 111-15) from going to ACORN. Forty-nine Democrats Lieberman and Bernard Sanders I-Vt. opposed the move close to the reverse of this weeks votes.
On March 29 the Senate tabled 53-43 another Vitter amendment to prohibit ACORN and any organization sharing premises or resources with it from receiving money authorized under national service legislation (PL 111-13). Fifty-one Democrats and the two independents voted to kill the Vitter move.
Vitter and Richard C. Shelby R-Ala. also held up the nomination of Robert M. Groves as Census Bureau director in the spring in part because of the Republicans concern that Groves would not commit to barring ACORN from helping to recruit census-takers.
Until recently it was Vitternot Johannswho took the lead in pressing the case against ACORN in the Senate.
