John Boehner: I Have No Idea How Much DOMA Defense Will Cost Taxpayers

House Speaker John Boehner said yesterday that he doesn't have a clue how much the GOP defense of DOMA will cost. Chris Johnson reports at Washington Blade:

“I do not have an estimate,” Boehner said. “But we were placed in a position where we were in effect allowing the administration to determine the constitutionality of a bill that passed the United States Congress because they were unwilling to defend it. I don’t think the House had any choice but to take the position that we were going to defend the work that the Congress — and only the courts are in the position of determining the constitutionality of any bill.” Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, blasted Boehner for not having the cost on defending DOMA readily available. “For a speaker so obsessed with budgets and cost cutting, it’s laughable that he claims not to know what hiring outside attorneys will cost the American public,” Cole-Schwartz said. “If the Speaker is going to force taxpayers to defend discrimination, it’s reasonable that the public understand what the bill will be.”

The House has an April 18th deadline to respond to the DOMA case, Windsor v. United States, which is pending before the U.S. District Court of Southern District of New York.