Rep. Steve King (IA) today made the following statement after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected GOP calls for an investigation into ACORN.

The interlocking financial connections between ACORN and its affiliate organizations are rife with waste, fraud and abuse, yet ACORN has never been investigated by Congress because of ACORN cronies like Harry Reid. How much more evidence does Harry Reid need to initiate investigations into this partisan criminal enterprise?

An all-out, full court press federal investigation is the only way to bring ACORN to heel. The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service need to jointly investigate ACORN and perform a complete forensic analysis of the activities and finances of ACORN and its affiliates. We also need multiple Congressional committee investigations to ensure ACORN will not continue its shady practices, especially while collecting taxpayer funds. People need to go to jail for criminal activities.

About ACORN:

- In June, the Washington Times reported that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers “backed off his plan to investigate wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ‘powers that be’ put the kibosh on the idea.”

 - ACORN is under investigation in at least 14 states.

- ACORN as an entity was charged with voter fraud in Nevada. 

- ACORN has admitted to over 400,000 fraudulent voter registrations in the 2008 election cycle.

- ACORN has received a minimum $53 million in taxpayer dollars since 1994.

- ACORN covered up Dale Rathke’s embezzlement of $948,607.50 for eight years.

- ACORN is eligible to receive as much as $8.5 billion more in federal tax dollars.

- ACORN played a role in the mortgage meltdown by pressuring banks to make bad loans and by brokering them.

- ACORN and its approximately 300 affiliates use the same accounting firm and same mailing address in New Orleans, Louisiana.