Did You Know...

Here’s an update on the La Raza/The Race $25 million earmark that had been tucked into Barney Frank’s massive housing bailout bill. (Previous coverage here and here.)

It was stripped out of the final version of the bill that passed the House yesterday. But that doesn’t mean they won’t get their money:

The original bill directed $100 million to four community groups, including $25 million each for housing programs run by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban League. Republicans balked, saying the money was meant to help Democrats in an election year.

The language was stripped out before the bill came to the floor. But La Raza, the Urban League and scores of community organizations are still in line for housing-development money, plus $230 million for the remainder of this year and another $230 million for fiscal 2009 for mortgage counseling.

“It’s a political-ally slush fund,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, (R., Texas), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, which opposed the package.

As I’ve reported previously, the left-wing mortgage counseling racket is and will continue to be well-funded by the Dems while Republicans sit back and do nothing. Refresher:

The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups across the country. In October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001.

Here’s a list (PDF) of national, regional, state, and local housing counseling grantees for fiscal year 2007–all of whom presumably were in operation when subprime borrowers got into the current mess. Among the major recipients:

*The AARP scored nearly $400,000 for training.

*The National Council of La Raza scooped up more than $1.3 million.

*The National Urban League raked in nearly $1 million.

*ACORN Housing Corporation received more than $1.6 million.

There is no concerted effort in Congress to de-fund the Left. There is no organized outcry from fiscal conservatives or immigration enforcement proponents or responsible borrowers/homeowners/renters to end these publicly-subsidized political pay-offs.

And so you keep paying the price of apathy–forking over your hard-earned tax dollars to radical left-wing outfits that use the cash to further shake down the government and corporations.

La Raza/The Race’s good friend John McCain was unavailable for comment.