Democrats strip ACORN of funding in continuing resolution

It seems as though Democrats have realized the political danger of their association with ACORN.  The Boston Globe reports that Democrats have included in the continuing resolution that will keep government funded in absence of a budget a clause that excludes ACORN from funds in the bill.  In fact , it appears to prohibit ACORN from receiving any funds at all from any federal source (via Instapundit):

Abandoned by even many of its Democratic allies, ACORN hit back today at Congress after it slapped the latest penalty on the community advocacy group.

The House voted today to avert a possible government shutdown next week by temporarily extending the current federal budget. But Democrats inserted a provision saying that ACORN could not receive funding under the stopgap measure or any prior legislation.

Needless to say, this did not make Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s CEO, terribly pleased.  Lewis and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) continued to insist that the language amounted to a bill of attainder and is unconstitutional.  This is nonsense, of course; Congress can choose to give cash to organizations, and can also choose not to give cash to organizations.  There is no application of due process, because ACORN is not entitled to taxpayer funding.

Perhaps Lewis realizes that acting like a victim after the series of videos showing ACORN employees assisting child-prostitution trafficking and tax evasion won’t be a big seller.  In her statement, she asks that a few betes noirs of the Left get the ACORN treatment from Congress, including the Big Kahuna of fringe-nutcase conspiracists, Halliburtion:

“One unintended – and positive – consequence of the witch hunt against ACORN is that it could help rein in the likes of Halliburton and Blackwater and even Wall St,” she said in the statement. “If the standard is that organizations that have broken the law shouldn’t get federal money, then let’s set that standard consistently. There are numerous corporations that have been proven records of malfeasance. For its part – and although we don’t claim perfection in our work for poor and working families – ACORN has never been convicted of any crime in a court of law – the conservative imagination and the media are another matter.”

Well, the difference is that (a) Halliburton wins 87% of its contracts through competitive bidding for projects authorized by Congress, (b) ACORN got its federal funding through non-competitive grants processes, and (c) conservatives didn’t want Congress bailing out Wall Street in the first place.  Other than that, Lewis is right on point.  When teenagers use the “everyone else does it” defense, it usually works, right?

The most interesting part is that the Democrats threw ACORN under the bus again after two weeks of horrendous publicity, and without too much specific pushing on this bill for that action from the GOP.  There is no chance that Republicans can stop the continuing resolution, nor do they necessarily want to do so, which means this will become law, at least for a while.  Two young adults with good camera technology and a bad wardrobe have dismantled the federal trough to ACORN, and that is really amazing.

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