ACORN FUNDING: Voting 53 for and 43 against, the Senate on
March 26 tabled (killed) an amendment to prohibit funding under
HR 1388 (above) for the Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now (ACORN). The bill contains no such funding. A
non-governmental organization, ACORN works mainly in poor
communities on issues such as foreclosures, Gulf Coast recovery,
immigration, voter registration and raising the minimum wage.
Critics accuse ACORN of fraudulent voter-registration activity.
Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who voted to kill the amendment, said
"ACORN hasn't received any AmeriCorps funds in a decade," and
if they were to receive any in the future, "they will not be able to
use AmeriCorps volunteers to conduct voter registration drives or
legislative advocacy."
Sponsor David Vitter, R-La., said his amendment "goes to the
heart of this debate," which is "whether this new federal
bureaucracy would, in effect, politicize charitable activity around
the country."
A yes vote was to kill the amendment.
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