Acorn Sues Over Cut-Off of Federal Funds
November 13, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The community-organizing group Acorn sued the federal government Thursday, saying Congress’s decision to cut off aid to the group and its affiliates violates the Constitution, reports the Associated Press.
Acorn said Congress was not within its legal rights to cut aid to a specific organization.
Acorn said the cuts have had a ripple effect on the group’s other sources of money and forced it to close offices, lay off employees, and “drastically” reduce services to low- and moderate-income clients, the lawsuit states.
Bertha Lewis, chief executive of Acorn, said she initially underestimated the impact of Congress’s vote last month. Lawmakers voted to cut off government aid to the organization after hidden-camera videos were released that showed staff members in two Acorn offices encouraging prostitution and tax evasion. “We want to comply with every investigation, but we cannot comply if we do not have staff and are closing our offices,” Ms. Lewis said.
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