John Boehner Committed Six Times As Much Government Money As He Originally Said He Would Defending DOMA

Costs to defend the Defense of Marriage Act have spiraled out of control over the past two years, as the case wound its way to the Supreme Court.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is paying the legal bills, which have accumulated to six times as much as originally anticipated.

$3 million has been authorized for the defense, compared to the initial $500,000.

After the President announced that the Justice Department would no longer commit resources to the legal defense of DOMA in February 2011, House Speaker John Boehner announced that the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) of the U.S. House of Representatives would take up the defense of DOMA.

Originally, the funding for this legal defense was capped at $500,000. The House GOP paid former Solicitor General and conservative Supreme Court rockstar Paul Clement to defend DOMA.

That cap has been repeatedly raised as the costs of defending the 1996 law have continued to spiral upwards. By October 2012, the GOP defense had burned through almost the entire new cap of $1.5 million.

Then, as of January, House Republicans authorized up to $3 million in government spending for Clement to defend the law.

All told, the House legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act cost six times as much as the House GOP leadership originally anticipated.

Today Clement is before the Supreme Court defending DOMA, so the final decision of the highest court in the land will show whether that was money well-spent.

UPDATE 3:30 PM: Gregory Abbot, the Press Secretary for the Democrats of the House Committee on Administration, sent along the most recent copy of the contract extension with Paul Clement. Click to enlarge: