By James Oliphant

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON
— Trying to quell a building conservative firestorm, the House and
Senate made clear in separate and lopsided votes Thursday that the
beleaguered community-based, nonprofit advocacy organization ACORN is a pariah on Capitol Hill.

House
Republicans took over a debate about a sweeping student loan bill to
propose a measure that would bar the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now from receiving any federal funds. It
passed 345-75, with 172 Democrats joining all of the Republicans in the
chamber in support.

In the Senate, an amendment connected to an Interior Department spending bill that would prohibit ACORN from receiving any money from that bill passed by an 85-11 vote. It was the second such vote directed at ACORN in the Senate this week.

The
votes were the strongest statement yet that the community-organizing
group, long a target of conservatives who accused it of voter fraud in
the 2008 election and sought to link it to President Barack Obama’s
campaign, has become politically radioactive. The group has been
especially criticized since videos surfaced this month that appeared to
feature ACORN workers giving advice on how to evade the law.

The
House measure, which applies to any federal contracts, was offered by
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “The battle, however, to deny ACORN federal funding is not over until the president signs the bill into law,” Issa said after the vote.

ACORN
suggested that Congress was caving in to pressure from the right.
“We’re disappointed that the House took the rare and politically
convenient step of attempting to eliminate federal funding for a single
organization, one that has been the target of a multiyear political
assault stemming variously from the Bush White House, Fox News and
other conservative quarters,” Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.