House GOP To Call for End of ACORN Funding

Following on the heels of yesterday's Senate vote, the House GOP is set to call for an end to federal funding for ACORN:

Today House Republicans will introduce a bill that would end all federal funding to ACORN and its affiliates. Republicans are also sending a letter to President Obama on the same subject.

The action comes after the release, on the website BigGovernment, of three undercover videos showing ACORN employees in Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York City offering advice on how to evade taxes, cover up prostitution activity, and abet the use of minors in prostitution. In the wake of those disclosures, the U.S. Census cut its ties with ACORN, and yesterday the Senate voted 83-7 to cut off housing funds for the organization.

House Republicans point out that they have long pushed for a cutoff in government funding for ACORN. Republican leader John Boehner last year sent a letter to President Bush asking for the defunding of ACORN. There is already Republican legislation calling for the total cutoff of Housing and Urban Development Department funds to ACORN, and Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, took a leading role in pushing for the Census Bureau decision.

Assuming Nancy Pelosi is willing to schedule a vote, many Democrats will vote against this which will give the GOP a very handy issue for 2010. However, I expect such a measure will pass since ACORN has quickly become a toxic presence and Democrats in close districts will not want this issue hung around their campaigns.