Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is preparing legislation that would block ACORN from receiving federal funding under the upcoming 2010 federal budget. This announcement was made during a press conference today on Capitol Hill.
Anita Moncrief, a former ACORN employee, and Heather Hiedelbaugh, vice-president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, also took part in the conference and discussed the many allegations against group, which is formally known as the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now.
“This is about how Congress spends the people’s money and about the bar that congress sets for accessing federal funding,” Bachmann said.” The question before us is, is it a right anyone is entitled to or is it a privilege that must be earned?
As The Examiner has previously reported ACORN has already received about $54 million in federal tax dollars since 1994 and could be eligible this year for over $8 billion in federal funding under the stimulus bill and the upcoming Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget.
Bachmann had submitted an amendment to the $140 million Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act in April that would prevent organizations with criminal indictments from having access to housing grants and legal assistance grants. However, it was rejected in exchange for a subsequent amendment offered by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would lower the bar for ACORN to receive funding.
Only four Democrats voted against the Frank Amendment, which moved on the House floor as new vote fraud indictments were handed down against ACORN in Pennsylvania last week.
Heidelbaugh, the Republican attorney, read a statement from Marcel Reid, a member of the “ACORN 8,” a dissident organization, that asked members of Congress to reconsider their support for the organization. The statement is as follows:
“We the undersigned members of the ACORN 8 national board made up of current and former acorn leaders all of which believe in the original stated mission of ACORN to help empower poor moderate income members of society, we call for an immediate suspension of all federal state and local funding until an independent audit and congressional hearing of acorn and entities has been completed.”
Heidelbaugh expressed disappointment over the response most members of Congress of have toward the fraudulent activities connected with ACORN.
“Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is leading on this important issue ensuring the facts are communicated and putting forward legislation preventing organizations or employees of organizations, indicted for voter fraud, from being eligible for housing counseling grants and legal assistance grants authorized under the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act,” she said. “Unfortunately, her leadership has met with strong opposition and inaction on the part of the majority who refuses to investigate ACORN, at the same time, allowing the organization access to millions of hardworking American’s tax dollars. Congress has a constitutional requirement to act in the best interests of our nation’s citizens and we will continue to speak out until they have done so with regard to ACORN.”
