[cmeisenzahl]

OpenMarket.org » Archive » Remove ACORN Slush Fund from Bailout Bill
"The bailout bill drafted by liberal Congressional leaders contains a massive slush fund that will benefit the fraud-ridden left-wing group ACORN, which must be removed, argues Investors Business Daily. (We earlier discussed the slush fund for ACORN and its history of voter fraud and financial fraud)."
http://www.openmarket.org/2008/09/27...-bailout-bill/

Re-Seeding the Housing Mess - WSJ.com
"Taxpayers are naturally suspicious that political insiders and contributors on Wall Street are going to make out like bandits once Washington starts spending the $700 billion in the financial market rescue. But Democrats have already decided to spin off potentially billions of taxpayer dollars from the bailout fund to their own political buddies -- not on Wall Street but on nearby K Street. The House and Senate Democratic drafts contain an indefensible and well-hidden provision. It would mandate that at least 20% of any profit realized from the sale of each troubled asset purchased under the Paulson plan be deposited in either the Housing Trust Fund or the Capital Magnet Fund.
...
What we have here essentially are a pair of government slush funds created in July as part of the Economic Recovery Act that pump tax dollars into the coffers of low-income housing advocacy groups, such as Acorn."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122247015469280723.html

[Dork.]

It might be worthwhile to read up on the two funds, I think.

NLIHC: National Low Income Housing Coalition - National Housing Trust Fund

In particular, note these stipulations that are attached to the money in each fund:

Prohibited uses are political activities, advocacy, lobbying, counseling services, travel expenses, and endorsements of a particular candidate or party.

This is the first I've heard of these two funds. Describing them as "slush funds" may be disingenuous: if you believe these funds do what they say they do, and you believe the Democrats when they say they want to help out folks on Main Street as well as Wall Street, then these funds appear to be a perfect vehicle to do so.

Now, I don't know much about ACORN, other than the fact that they appear to be accused of voter registration fraud in Florida. (I can't get to their website, www.acorn.org, for some reason.) But it certainly appears that while some of this money may go to ACORN, and ACORN has been accused of voter registration shenanigans, it appears that they cannot use any money they get through this channel for political purposes.

So, this appears to be an attempt by some House Republicans who are not happy with the bailout plan to try and scuttle it. This is an important enough issue that you'd think that there would be leadership in the Republican party strong enough to get the entire party to agree on whether this bailout is a good idea or not. Right now, Republicans seem to be opposing the bailout (recommended by a President of their own party) just enough to be able to skirt the blame if things get worse later, while not really getting in the way of passage....