California Representative Michael Honda
wants to know how House Speaker John Boehner plans to pay to defend
the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
“No matter where you fall on the
issue politically, it is this committee's responsibility to ensure
that the American people's tax dollars are spent legally and
judiciously,” said Honda during a Thursday House Legislative Branch
Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.
In March, a five-member panel appointed
by Boehner voted 3-2 along party lines to instruct the House's
nonpartisan Office of the General Counsel to defend the 1996 law, now
that President Barack Obama won't. Obama
instructed the Department of Justice to no longer defend the law,
which bans federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of
gay and lesbian couples, because he believes parts of it are
unconstitutional.
The Atlanta-based law firm King &
Spalding dropped the case last month, prompting partner Paul Clement
to jump ship to the Washington-based Bancroft PLLC, where he'll
continue to work on the case.
Boehner has dodged questions on how the
case will be funded. Several lawmakers, including Boehner, have
suggested docking the Department of Defense's budget to fund the
case.
“Is this a case where an overzealous
House Speaker committed $500,000 of the American people's tax dollars
to push a partisan and political agenda without having a funding
source already in place? If so, do Speaker Boehner's actions violate
the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits involving the government in
any obligation to pay money before funds have been appropriated for
that purpose.”
“If the Republican Leadership can't
handle the responsibility of properly administering the budget of the
House, is it any surprise that the American people are beginning to
question how they are handling the budget of the nation? If the
message from the last election is to cut spending, then why is
Speaker Boehner forcing Americans to pay a high-priced private law
firm $520 per hour to defend a Constitutionality-flawed and
discriminatory law?”