Every Democrat in the country has a political hardon for Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL). As I’ve watched Grayson make the rounds since his now famous “don’t get sick/die quickly” speech, I’ve quickly grown tired of his pro-Democrat spiel. The Dems are excited to see someone with a bona fide human spine walking around Congress. Not good enough! They are just as much to blame for our situation today. Hell, Obama is the one trying to stop the public option now! Neither party has any right to exhibit any public pride in anything they accomplish for, oh let’s say, twenty years. But it is ok for me to admit that Grayson is kicking ass in the halls of Congress, as is the case with the Defund ACORN Act.
Florida Representative Alan Grayson is spearheading calls for fraudulent military contractors to be defunded under the anti-ACORN legislation. He points to Halliburton’s misconduct and its “extreme and gross negligence…putting in showers in Iraq that end up electrocuting soldiers, and feeding them poisoned water.”
The federal funding ACORN has received over the past twenty years, Grayson says, “is roughly equal to what the taxpayer paid to Halliburton each day during the war in Iraq.”Jeremy Scahill
The Nation
Yes, hoisted by their own petard. The bill’s (H.R. 3571) GOP language is so broad,
that it applies to “any organization” that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.
In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.Ryan Grim
Huffington Post
Be sure to check out the entire list of Federal contractors that have been found guilty of misconduct. At least a few of the 345 members of the House of Representatives that voted for this as a “motion to recommit” (the vote was 345-70) must surely be tugging at the pockets of those companies, begging for forgiveness. Whatever will they do?
No need to worry just yet, military-industrial-congressional complex! This is all assuming the bill survives constitutional scrutiny, which is a doubtful prospect. As the video above suggests, this seems to be a “bill of attainder” or legislative adjudication; basically, Congress is acting like a court and that is very unconstitutional.
Via The Brad Blog