An update on the ACORN story: Nevada senator John Ensign is calling for suspension of taxpayer dollars to that questionable organization. See here:
“ENSIGN URGES FEDS TO STOP PAYMENTS TO ACORN” posted by [Rich Lowry] @ The Corner
Washington, D.C. – In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Senator John Ensign today called for the suspension of taxpayer dollars that ultimately end up in the hands of such controversial groups as ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN, which is under investigation, is eligible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac affordable housing funds, which add up to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
“With the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie, the government will be taxing itself to create a backdoor slush fund, and we must prevent these taxpayer dollars from going toward ACORN,” said Ensign. “With the recent news tying ACORN with voter fraud, suspending these funds is even more urgent.”
As part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Fannie and Freddie are required to provide funding for newly created affordable housing funds. This was signed into law prior to the government takeover of the two agencies. Now that the government owns Fannie and Freddie and may provide them with up to $200 billion, taxing these companies does not help create stability, which is the goal of FHFA.
A search warrant was served today on the ACORN Headquarters in Nevada as part of an ongoing investigation into whether employees used false addresses or false names as part of their voter registration operation.
The letter was sent to James Lockhart, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency today. As the regulatory agency overseeing Fannie and Freddie, FHFA has the authority to stop these contributions to the affordable housing funds. Senators Michael Enzi, Jon Kyl, David Vitter, Pat Roberts, Tom Coburn, John Thune and Jim DeMint signed the letter with Ensign.
See Rich’s post for the text of Ensign’s letter.
