ACORN: No Federal Funding

It appears that the party may soon be over for ACORN.

I think the time has come for the corrupt group to kiss federal funds goodbye.

Obviously, given the fact that Republicans don't have the votes to carry any legislation, support to defund ACORN must be a bipartisan effort.

From FOX News:

Congressional Republicans are clearly united against funneling federal dollars to the community organizing group ACORN. But surprisingly, so are many Democrats.

In a legislative surprise Tuesday, the House overwhelmingly voted to withhold all funding for ACORN. Later Thursday, a Republican senator targeted the group through yet another spending bill, also eyeing a total ban.

The House measure came as a parliamentary maneuver during debate on a higher education bill. Many expected the anti-ACORN effort would be ruled out of order because it didn’t pertain to education. But in a stunning turn of events, House Education Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) not only accepted the ACORN provision, but also encouraged Democrats to vote for it.

172 Democrats joined 173 Republicans to pass the motion 345-75. Two lawmakers voted present.

All nay votes came from Democrats.

Centrist Democrats rushed to applaud the Republican effort and had plenty of tough talk for the community organization. Second-term Rep. Zack Space (D-OH) released a statement demanding that ACORN be held accountable.

"What ACORN has done is wrong, unacceptable, and unconscionable," wrote Space. "We are going to continue pursuing this until we get to the very bottom of it and uncover how this was allowed to happen."

House Republicans were eager to trumpet a legislative victory. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that "ACORN has violated serious federal laws, and today the House voted to ensure that taxpayer dollars would no longer be used to fund this corrupt organization." He called on the FBI to probe ACORN.

The Senate took a more incremental approach.

Earlier this week, the Senate voted 83-7 to support an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) to prohibit ACORN from receiving transportation and housing funds.

Johanns struck again Thursday. He introduced yet another amendment that would block funding connected to the Interior Department. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is the subcommittee chairwoman responsible for shepherding the bill to passage. She declared that ACORN is "in an absolute free-fall in terms of allegations of illegal activity."

Feinstein assured other senators that her staff "scrubbed the bill" and found no ACORN dollars. She pleaded with her colleagues to vote no. But Democrats flocked to the Johanns amendment as they did Monday, with only 11 voting against the Johanns measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) even switched his vote to "yea" at the last minute.

Considering that the Democrats hold all the power in Washington, it's quite amazing to see them turn on ACORN.

It speaks to the incredible work done by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles in filming the exposés, and Andrew Breitbart in effectively releasing the videos.

Libs tried to ignore the scandal but really had no choice but to acknowledge that they had to cut ties with their ACORN allies.

Even many of the Dems realize that supporting ACORN is political poison.

I certainly don't look at the downfall of ACORN as a Republican victory. It's a victory for Americans who believe in law and order.