By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist An increasing number of lawmakers are calling for a thorough investigation and the severing of all government ties with ACORN (Assocation of Community Organizations for Reform Now) after an undercover sting revealed workers giving advice on how to skirt federal law. Fox News, one of the only news outlets reporting the story, says House Minority Leader John Boehner introduced legislation yesterday that would break all federal ties with ACORN. House Republicans also wrote a letter to President Obama, who has not only been closely associated with ACORN in the past but once promised to give them “a seat at the table in my new administration to set my agenda.” In the letter, Republicans asked the president to “disclose and terminate” all federal funding to ACORN. “It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law. Immediate action is necessary to ensure that no additional tax dollars are directed to ACORN.” Another House member, Sen. Charles Boustany (R-LA) is calling for a hearing to investigate ACORN’s tax filing assistance programs following release of the videos which show multiple incidents of intended tax fraud. "In light of the apparent flagrant and willful attempts to suborn tax fraud, I ... (am seeking) a hearing of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as practicable to investigate ACORN’s activities," he said Friday. Sen. Richard Shelby, (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, is also calling for a congressional probe. This comes after the Senate voted 83-7 on Monday night to cut the group off from all Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants. “While this vote is important,” Sen. Shelby said in a written statement, “it is limited in scope and we must know more. It is imperative that we proceed immediately to investigate what appears to be ACORN’s stunning disregard for the law and abuse of taxpayer funds. Such an investigation would serve as the basis for determining not only whether ACORN is worthy of receiving other federal funds this year, but ever again.” The United States Census Director also sent a letter to the National Headquarters of ACORN notifying the group that its help with the 2010 census is no longer needed. These actions are being taken after the release of secretly recorded videos of ACORN employees in Baltimore, Washington, DC, New York and San Bernardino, California offering assistance to filmmaker, James O’Keefe and a 20 year old student named Hannah Giles who posed as a pimp and a prostitute looking for housing. In the Baltimore office, workers instructed O’Keefe and Giles on how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 minor girls from El Salvador who were being imported to work as prostitutes. The Washington office instructed O’Keefe on how to establish Giles as the sole proprietor of a phony company in order to mask the nature of her business. In the Brooklyn video, a worker also instructs O’Keefe and Giles to lie about their occupation, saying, “Honesty is not going to get you the house.”  The San Bernardino office was perhaps the most egregious with an ACORN staffer not only offering to help the supposed pimp and prostitute set up a house full of underage sex workers, but she also named the politicians she speaks with daily and what bills they are lobbying for (with taxpayer money). The same employee claims she was once a prostitute herself and admits to having shot and killed her abusive husband when she was 35 years-old. Thus far, ACORN workers involved in both the Baltimore and Washington incidents have been fired. However, ACORN’s chief organizer, Bertha Lewis, said in a written statement that while she would not defend the actions of the terminated employees, she believes O’Keefe may have committed a felony during the operation by secretly recording the discussions. “It is clear that the videos are doctored, edited and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist ‘filmaker’ O’Keefe and his partner in crime,” she said. Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said yesterday that he would consider taking the kind of action taken by the Senate. “I want to look at that,” the Maryland Democrat told Fox News, and called ACORN’s behavior “despicable.” © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com