House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio escalated the war on ACORN today, calling for it to be cut off from all federal money and going so far as to call for a ban on ACORN contracting with canditates for federal office. 

ACORN, a community organizing group allied with Democrats, has been blamed by the GOP for pushing housing policies that it says contributed to the housing crisis. It’s been the subject of investigations for voter registration fraud and its Nevada offices were recently raided.

As Ben pointed out today, voter-registration fraud and voter fraud are two very different things, the former a petty crime and the latter a serious insult to democracy.

Regardless, it’s become clear that ACORN has a target on its back. The organization "cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money," says Boehner. 

ACORN receives federal money through the affordable housing trust fund after that money’s been sent to states and local governments, so Congress, to keep it from getting money, would need to specifically forbid ACORN from being eligible to get federal funds. 

"Contracting for services between candidates for federal office and ACORN, as Senator Obama has done, must end," says Boehner. "Now that the taxpayers own Fannie Mae, any funding from Fannie Mae’s nonprofit foundation to ACORN must stop." 

His full statement after the jump… 

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