Monday the U. S. Senate voted 83-7 to bar the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, from receiving any further federal grant money, following issuance of several arrest warrants against ACORN employees in Florida accused of falsifying voter registration records, and revelation of a hidden camera video in which ACORN employees gave tax avoidance advice to a prostitute and her pimp.
The Census Bureau had announced on Friday it was severing all ties with ACORN, which has assisted in the past with urban area census work. This fiscal year ACORN has received $1.6 million in HUD grants for housing assistance, and since 1994 the group has received a total of $53 million from the federal government.
The vote came on an amendment to the Senate version of the FY 2010 Transportation HUD appropriations bill. The House version of the bill has no comparable restriction on grants to ACORN, so the ultimate outcome of this issue remains to be resolved in the conference committee.
The Census Bureau had announced on Friday it was severing all ties with ACORN, which has assisted in the past with urban area census work. This fiscal year ACORN has received $1.6 million in HUD grants for housing assistance, and since 1994 the group has received a total of $53 million from the federal government.
The vote came on an amendment to the Senate version of the FY 2010 Transportation HUD appropriations bill. The House version of the bill has no comparable restriction on grants to ACORN, so the ultimate outcome of this issue remains to be resolved in the conference committee.
