GOP uses ACORN to fight bank redlining law

[sandra]

Conservative Republicans are capitalizing on the troubles of community activist group ACORN — ranging from charges of voter registration fraud to embarrassing videos of its employees — to revive their long-standing fight against a federal law that grades banks on their investments in poor and minority neighborhoods.

The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act was intended to end redlining, a practice in which banks in effect walled off many inner-city neighborhoods from mortgage loans. But some GOP lawmakers say it has outlived its purpose and is being used inappropriately by ACORN to shake down banks for money. They want to repeal the law, scale it back or at least block a Democratic proposal to expand it.

Critics of the law are linking it to ACORN — a subject many Democrats wish would go away — at every opportunity.

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The Associated Press: GOP uses ACORN to fight bank redlining law




Some new homes, developed by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) Housing Corp., are seen in the Beverly subdivision of Phoenix, Ariz., Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. In the wake ACORN's recent troubles, which range from voter fraud charges to embarrassing videos of its employees, three Republican congressmen have asked 14 banks to provide details on their dealings with ACORN, reviving a longstanding GOP fight against the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act on bank investment in poor areas. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)