Thursday, May 14, 2009

Bachmann Soldiers On

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) is doing her best to give some teeth to the fight that Glenn Beck has picked with ACORN. She recently introduced an amendment to block all taxpayers funds from going to any organization under indictment for voter fraud - Barney Frank (D-MA) blocked it, without explanation. Now Rep. Bachmann is taking her case to the media. We'll see how it works out.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann called on Congress Thursday to block ACORN's access to federal housing funds, citing repeated charges of voter registration fraud against the low-income advocacy group.

The Republican congresswoman, flanked by an ACORN whistleblower and an attorney who worked on an ACORN case in Pennsylvania, escalated a media offensive against the group, which is a favorite target of conservatives who claim liberals are unjustly protecting a dysfunctional organization by allowing it access to taxpayer money.

"ACORN, as you know, is no stranger to the spotlight," Bachmann said outside the Capitol. "Yet no matter how many times prosecutors investigate and even indict ACORN and their employees, they emerge unblemished as far as the federal government is concerned from having access to federal tax dollars."

Bachmann, who hit the same themes in an op-ed in the Washington Times on Wednesday, complained that House Democrats killed her amendment to block organizations indicted for voter fraud from receiving federal housing money. She said ACORN has received at least $53 million in tax dollars since 1994, and that she will have new legislation in the coming weeks.

"We simply believe that the bar needs to be very high," she said.

The call for congressional action comes after Nevada officials filed voter registration fraud charges against ACORN last week, and Pennsylvania authorities charged seven local ACORN workers with forging voter registration forms.

Beck, for his part, may well be taking his life in his hands by pushing this issue, but he is pushing it...hard. There are a number of stories and videos of his progress this week here.

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