Yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “rebuffed a Republican request that he call Senate hearings and an investigation into recent allegations against the scandal-tainted community organizing group ACORN,” Congressional Quarterly reports.
Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that he would not ask the Senate committee chairmen or Congress “to do anything that would distract from efforts to address” health care, climate change, an overhaul of the nation’s financial regulatory system and oversight of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reid made the comments in letters to 28 Republican senators, who had asked for the investigation into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Meanwhile, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) “on Wednesday continued his offensive against ACORN, requesting that the Justice Department investigate the organization for any possible violation of federal racketeering laws,” The Hill reports.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Vitter argues that ACORN’s alleged misdeeds warrant a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) investigation into its business practices. A probe of that magnitude — potentially the most aggressive investigation requested by any ACORN critic to date — would permit investigators exceptional leverage in rooting out any criminal wrongdoing.
Congress in Your Pocket
