House GOP To Spend $3 Million+ Fighting Gay Equality

To listen to House Speaker John Boehner the highest priority for the nation is to reduce spending - even if it means leaving grandma with reduced medical care and subsisting off of dog food.   But as is the norm with today's GOP, only certain spending must be cut, namely that which benefits the poor and less fortunate or which would rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure.  In contrast, there's plenty of money to be spent defending a laws struck down by two of the U.S Courts of Appeal and a number of federal district courts.  The law in question?  DOMA, of course, which seeks to force the federal government to discriminate against LGBT Americans who are legally married under state law.  Think Progress looks at John Boehner's and the House GOP's willingness to squander taxpayer money furthering anti-gay bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

Late Monday, House Democrats learned that the Republican leadership had once again secretly renegotiated its contract with attorney Paul Clement to defend the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act at the Supreme Court. This is the third time the contract has been adjusted, raising total costs to $3 million from the original $500,000 cap.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) both sit on the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), the House body intervening to defend DOMA in court in lieu of the Department of Justice’s decision not to. However, they did not find out about BLAG’s new agreement with Clement until after it had already been finalized. They wrote to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to decry the increased spending:

Let us be clear: these steps do not reflect the will of the House or the consensus of the BLAG. Democrats do not support any decisions to invest taxpayer funds in defense of an indefensible law. We remain united in our opposition to any effort to preserve, protect, and defend discrimination in our country.

From the start, the Republican-led campaign to defend DOMA has been a practice in futility and a waste of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. The Republican-appointed, taxpayer-funded legal team has lost in every case. Courts across the nation have stood on the side of justice and equality for all Americans. DOMA is on its way into the dustbin of history.

It would be bad enough if Republicans were losing in court and accepting the result. Yet it is the height of hypocrisy for House Republicans to waste public funds in one breath then claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility in the next.

 Despite the apparent hypocrisy, Boehner has not backed down from his intent to fund the defense of DOMA. In December, when the last increase was discovered, he was asked about the spending at a press conference. He angrily responded that if the Department of Justice won’t defend the law of the land, Congress will, before storming away from the podium.

Let's be clear.  John Boehner is a bigoted asshole.   It is also telling that Boehner considers himself to be a good practicing Catholic.  A Catholic whose silence has been deafening when it comes to demanding a house cleaning of the Church of those who aided, abetted and covered up the rape of minors.  Hypocrite is the most apt word that springs to mind that doesn't involve four letter words.