Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) tried to stand up for civil
society and taxpayers last week but his effort was shot down by
liberal Democratic senators.
Vitter tried to prevent the radical direct-action group, ACORN,
and its affiliates from benefitting under the odious national
service legislation known as the (proposed)
GIVE Act. The bill itself, which received
a glowing review from John Podesta's pro-Obama propaganda
factory, the Center for American Progress, would give government
money to volunteer programs and would dramatically expand the
feel-good liberal program, AmeriCorps, which ACORN and other
groups have used
to promote their own political objectives.
Vitter's amendment to the bill known as HR1388 would
have prevented ACORN from receiving funding under the legislation
and from participating in any program authorized by it
involving the use of government-sponsored volunteers.
Vitter noted in a
press release that ACORN is
currently under federal investigation, and this is simply not
the sort of organization that should be funded by taxpayer
dollars. Although this bill prevents the use of funds for
political activities, a loophole exists that would
allow volunteers sponsored by the federal government to work on
behalf of ACORN, freeing up ACORN workers to engage in
voter registration activities. The fact that ACORN has been
caught engaging in a number of suspect activities is of even
more concern. [emphasis added]
On the Senate floor March 26, Vitter explained further, saying of
his amendment:
It says no money under this program could go to ACORN or any of
its affiliates. Although it is about that one organization, I
think the amendment goes to the heart of this debate.
A lot of us are concerned this bill could politicize and put
too much Government involvement in charitable work across the
country.
Some folks may like ACORN, other folks may not, but nobody can
argue that ACORN isn't at its core political and ideological.
It should not get money under this program. The language in the
bill that says you can't do political activity with the money
clearly isn't good enough, because ACORN and other very
political and ideological groups would simply have charitable
offshoots that could accept the money and be underwritten
indirectly in that way.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), long a friend of
ACORN, objected. She made a motion to kill
Vitter's amendment, saying "I think this is an amendment that has
no purpose and [sic] has Draconian consequences if passed."
Senators agreed, voting 53 to 43
to kill the amendment. The only Democratic senators to vote
with Vitter were Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of
Nebraska.
The original version of HR1388 passed by the House contained
an amendment offered by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina)
that
prohibited organizations involved in "engaged in political or
legislative advocacy" from receiving funding.
But two
left-wing pressure groups distorted Foxx's amendment and
demanded its removal. "The First Amendment protects against
speech restrictions such as those in [this] amendment," said OMB
Watch. The Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest
said Foxx's amendment was "anti-nonprofit" and
"anti-democratic," and added that "civic participation is the
touchstone of American democracy."
Of course, their arguments were nonsense because groups are not
required to take funding from the government, but Sen. Mikulski
did ACORN's bidding,
filing a substitute bill in the Senate that took
out Foxx's provisions. The bill was approved by the Senate
on
a 79 to 19 vote.
The bill could be revisited by the House at any time and soon be
on its way to President Obama's desk for his signature.
(modified from a post at the
Capital Research Center blog)
