4.1 Billion to Acorn - amendment to thwart, fails.

Yesterday the Senate was debating the merits of the "bi-partisan" efforts after which they voted on several amendments. One that should make every American's blood boil is an amendment proposed to by John Vitter yesterday. It was a very simple amendment, just strip out 4.1 Billion to ACORN. After all, an organization that has so clearly chosen a partisan effort, is being investigated and prosecuted in over 10 states and is by all definition a radical left outfit should NOT be subsidized by taxpayer money. In fact, it is amazing that there is even any discussion here what so ever. The amendment was struck down 51 to 45.

Breakdown of vote:

Republicans, all voted AYE.

The following Democrats also voted AYE.

Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT]
Sen. Evan Bayh [D, IN]
Sen. Robert Byrd [D, WV]
Sen. Kay Hagan [D, NC]
Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE]
Sen. Jon Tester [D, MT]
(send them a nice note)

The rest of the 49 traitors, err, Democrats voted NAY.

Note: For those confused by the number. There are 3 senators abstaining from voting (Gregg, Hutchinson and Kennedy) plus MN' senate seat is being disputed in court (Coleman/Franken) so the senator totals are 96.

Could it be that this provision will be contested by Obama? Unlikely, considering he worked for them and promised to support their agenda. The rest of the people who supported this have absolutely no shame and regardless of your political affiliation, striking down this amendment should be offensive to the core.

Full text of the provision directly from the bill:

For a further additional amount for ‘Community Development Fund’, $4,190,000,000, to be used for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes as authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-289), of which--

(1) not less than $3,440,000,000 shall be allocated by a competition for which eligible entities shall be States, units of general local government, and nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities: Provided, That the award criteria for such competition shall include grantee capacity, leveraging potential, targeted impact of foreclosure prevention, and any additional factors determined by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Provided further, that the Secretary may establish a minimum grant size: Provided further, That amounts made available under this Section may be used to
(A) establish financing mechanisms for purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed-upon homes and residential properties, including such mechanisms as soft-seconds, loan loss reserves, and shared-equity loans for low- and moderate-income homebuyers;
(B) purchase and rehabilitate homes and residential properties that have been abandoned or foreclosed upon, in order to sell or rent such homes and properties;
(C) establish and operate land banks for homes that have been foreclosed upon;
(D) demolish foreclosed properties that have become blighted structures; and
(E) redevelop demolished or vacant foreclosed properties in order to sell or rent such properties; and

(2) up to $750,000,000 shall be awarded by competition to nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities to provide community stabilization assistance by
(A) accelerating state and local government and nonprofit productivity;
(B) increasing the scale and efficiency of property transfers of foreclosed and vacant residential properties from financial institutions and government entities to qualified local housing providers in order to return the properties to productive affordable housing use;
(C) building industry and property management capacity; and
(D) partnering with private sector real estate developers and contractors and leveraging private sector capital: Provided further, That such community stabilization assistance shall be provided primarily in States and areas with high rates of defaults and foreclosures to support the acquisition, rehabilitation and property management of single-family and multi-family homes and to work in partnership with the private sector real estate industry and to leverage available private and public funds for those purposes: Provided further, That for purposes of this paragraph qualified local housing providers shall be nonprofit organizations with demonstrated capabilities in real estate development or acquisition and rehabilitation or property management of single- or multi-family homes, or local or state governments or instrumentalities of such governments: Provided further, That qualified local housing providers shall be expected to utilize and leverage additional local nonprofit, governmental, for-profit and private resources:

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