PETTY CASH

Republicans Secretly Up Spending On DOMA Defense To $2 Million

America is about to head over a fiscal cliff, but apparently the GOP thinks there’s plenty in the bank to spend on protecting traditional marriage from those heathen homosexuals: House Republicans secretly raised the $1.5 million cap on litigating for DOMA to $2 million.

Roll Call first reported Thursday that the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group increased by $500,000 how much could be spent on outside council in defending DOMA.

House Administration Committee Chairman Dan Lungren—who was voted out on Election Day—approved the deal in September but didn’t tell Democrats.

Speaker John Boehner was quoted as saying, “If the Justice Department is not going to enforce the law of the land, the Congress will.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic member of the BLAG committee, is not happy about the GOP’s end-run. Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner reports:

The contract modification, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed by Pelosi’s office, was signed on Sept. 24 by House General Counsel Kerry Kircher and the outside lawyer BLAG hired to defend the law, Paul Clement of Bancroft PLLC.

Lungren approved the change on Sept. 28.

Pelosi, who has opposed the defense, attacked, “It’s bad enough that Speaker Boehner and House Republicans are wasting taxpayer dollars to defend the indefensible Defense of Marriage Act – and losing in every case. Now, they have reached a new low – signing a secret contract to spend more public money on their legal boondoggle without informing Democrats. Their actions are simply unconscionable; their decisions are utterly irresponsible.”

Pelosi also criticized that the move was made during the fall elections, saying, “Hiding this contract from voters in the midst of an election season was a cynical move at best, and a betrayal of the public trust at worst. With Americans focused on the creation of jobs and the growth of our economy, Republicans should not be spending $2 million to defend discrimination in our country.”

How callous can Pelosi be? Those Republican lawyers need our money now that Obama wants to raise taxes on elite legal types. It would un-American not to give them more dough.

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