Consumers Rights League Statement on Housing Bill: Taxpayer Protections, Accountability...

Consumers Rights League Statement on Housing Bill: Taxpayer Protections,
Accountability Needed

WASHINGTON, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- James Terry, Chief Public
Advocate for the Consumers Rights League (CRL), released the following
statement today expressing disappointment with the White House for dropping
its opposition to the massive housing bill that will likely pass the U.S.
House of Representatives today that includes, among other egregious
provisions, more than $230 million for housing counseling -- a bailout for
Wall Street and a payoff to organizations like the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) which is engaged in questionable
practices and the potential misuse of public funds:
James Terry, Chief Public Advocate, Consumers Rights League (CRL):
"This is a sham bill that rewards Wall Street bankers at the expense of
American consumers. And because the White House will likely sign this bad
bill, this country's next group of speculators will be looking to Washington
for a bailout when their investment doesn't pay.
"Equally as troubling, this legislation will pump tens, if not hundreds,
of millions of dollars into ACORN and its affiliate, the ACORN Housing Council
(AHC). Because of that, these groups must be held accountable for not only
their histories of questionable practices but for how they will spend this
massive cash influx funded by American taxpayers. Appropriate oversight has
not been established and as we've recently seen, the opportunities for fraud
within ACORN are rampant. Just last week, the chief organizer of ACORN was
forced to resign over the cover-up of a $1 million embezzlement scandal
involving his brother.
"As internal whistleblower documents recently revealed, ACORN and its
offshoots may have reaped substantial financial gains by misusing taxpayer
dollars for political ends and by attacking lending corporations for the same
so-called 'predatory' lending practices ACORN regularly engages in. ACORN has
also been under fire for reports of voter fraud. With this bill likely on its
way to the president's desk, this is an excellent moment for Chairman Frank to
heed the current calls for investigation and focus his attention on groups
like ACORN and AHC.
"In the interest of ensuring responsible use of taxpayer dollars, Congress
should be asking some serious questions about ACORN's activities instead of
blindly pumping millions of taxpayer dollars into these potentially corrupt
organizations. This bill is a bad start -- but there is still time for
Congress and investigators to do the right thing and protect consumers."

Read CRL's full whistleblower report
(http://www.consumersrightsleague.org/UploadedFiles/ACORN_AHC_Report.pdf), and
learn about the latest ACORN embezzlement scandal
(http://www.consumersrightsleague.org/uploadedfiles/Latest%20Million%20Dollar%
20ACORN%20Scandal.pdf) (Due to length of URL, please copy and paste into
browser).

About The Consumers Rights League:
The Consumers Rights League is a non-profit, non-partisan educational
organization dedicated to protecting consumer choice and access to the
marketplace. Through investigative analysis, CRL produces quality research
that thoroughly documents the real-world choices and challenges consumers face
and reports on the benefits enjoyed by an overwhelming majority of consumers.
Learn more about CRL's mission at http://www.consumersrightsleague.org.
SOURCE The Consumers Rights League

James Terry of Consumers Rights League, +1-202-230-4573