Washington, D.C. - Congressman David Price (D-NC) issued the following statement today on his vote against a Republican amendment, which was intended to bar all funding for ACORN, a national community organizing and housing advocacy group:

"The actions of these ACORN employees were egregious. They should have been and were fired, and ACORN needs to take other steps to clean this kind of activity up. This should be fully investigated by the appropriate authorities and if ACORN is found guilty of infractions, they should be punished.

"This amendment, however, was a sloppy rush to judgment, without regard for due process or even a serious examination of evidence. Issuing a blanket ban based on the day's news, when the performance of an organization has not been systematically evaluated is not the way Congress should be legislating. Several sections of the amendment are so broadly written as to force Congress to immediately terminate all sorts of government contracts. It arguably could include, for example, American Airlines, Goodyear Tires, and Greyhound Bus Lines.

"This amendment was an attempt to play "gotcha" politics to hi-jack the passage of the historic student loan bill and change the subject. Amendments like this get offered by representatives who are more interested in scoring political points than their responsibility to craft thoughtful legislation. I refuse to play that game with Congress' time and the American people's money, and I refuse to insert Congress into the middle of the judicial process."

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