Report: House GOP Leaders Spent $1.5 Million On DOMA Defense

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/doma-house-republicans_n_1971666.html

House Republican leaders have spent nearly all of the $1.5 million they allotted themselves to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, according to new figures revealed Tuesday by a House committee.

Democrats on the House Administration Committee released a report showing that the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), which took over the legal defense of DOMA after the Obama administration stopped defending it in Feb. 2011, has spent a total of $1,447,996.73. That means that House Republican leaders have effectively spent all the money they allotted themselves: BLAG members House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last year signed a $1.5 million contract with attorney Paul Clement to represent them in cases involving DOMA, or the federal ban on same-sex marriage.

To date, Republican leaders have intervened in 14 DOMA cases. They have lost five in a row.

House Democratic leaders pounced on the latest numbers as proof of wasted taxpayer money.