OMB Issues ACORN-related Memo
 

March 21, 2010 | 2:53 PM ET
OMB Issues ACORN-related Memo
OMB spokesman Ken Baer tells Fox that agency Director Peter Orszag sent a memo on March 16, see below, instructing agencies of a ruling from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York barring enforcement of a congressional ban on ACORN funding as called for in the 2010 Continuing Resolution.
The Orszag memo informs agencies of the District Court's declaratory judgment and permanent injunction on the ban on funding for ACORN and that OMB must rescind its earlier order/memo blocking ACORN funding.
The Department of Justice is appealing the District Court's ruling and is seeking a stay pending the outcome of the appeal. In order to comply with the District Court ruling, however, OMB issued the memo below.
It included this language:
"The Department of Justice is filing an appeal of the District Court’s decision and seeking a stay pending appeal, and we will keep agencies informed of any developments. In the meanwhile, in accordance with the District Court’s permanent injunction:
• The Memorandum of October 7, 2009 regarding “Guidance on section 163 of the Continuing Resolution regarding the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)” (Memorandum M-10-02), is hereby rescinded;
• Federal agencies are hereby advised that the District Court has declared the above-listed legislative provisions unconstitutional, and has enjoined enforcement of the provisions by defendant agencies (Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Commerce, and Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency).
• All Federal agencies should advise their contractors and grantees that the above-listed legislative provisions have been declared unconstitutional by the District Court for the Eastern District of New York. "
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-12.pdf>