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.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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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.
Cam
So the GOP is screaming to alter the calculations on Social Security cost of living increases that would end up lowering seniors SS increases which would end up saving the govt….approximately 10 million dollars.
And that savings is SO important that they are happy to blow 20% of the money that they get by cutting grandma’s check to attack gays.
The GOP isn’t interested in saving money, they are just interested apparently in attacking and harming anybody who isn’t in their narrow tea party defined definition of who is an acceptable person.
2eo
@Cam: Indeed we have the same conservative policies over here decimating our economy.
They’re cutting benefits and welfare for the old and disabled but offering huge tax cuts to all their super rich friends and quashing an enquiry as to how companies with serving tories get away with billions in tax each year.
The UK is a perfect example of the GOP financial practices put into actual practice, it is a disaster.
Cam
Quick apology, I rechecked those numbers, I should have written 10 billion, not million. So while much reduced I still think the point is valid in that the GOP has no trouble spending money on anything THEY want to spend money on. The problem is, none of those things have anything to do with serving the citizens of the country.
2eo, it’s like they all want to go back to the time when the lord came down to collect his rent for your use of his fields to grwo food on and sleep with every woman on her wedding night.
hyhybt
Without a defense, the cases against DOMA would never get above the district court level, and therefore decisions against it would only ever apply to the people who actually sue. Is that really what we want?
2eo
@Cam: Well, at least your governments try and do it on the sly.
David Cameron used this literal quote in Parliament last week “We are raising money for the rich” and nobody called him on it.
2eo
Sorry, just in case you thought I’d maybe altered context http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpzG5c7V00 it’s all here, unedited.
1EqualityUSA
I love the sound of GOP digging deeper. Keep on.