Spencer took on Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) for using the inclusion of hate crimes language as a reason to oppose the defense appropriations bill. I’m not surprised — since the Democratic takeover of Congress, Boehner has regularly argued that the defense bills coming out of their shop are not, in his words, “clean.” In the past, the reason for opposing the bills has been the inclusion of “pork,” which has an air of absurdity for anyone who sees what sort of pure defense funding actually makes it into those bills. Democrats simply haven’t been effective in calling Republicans out on this.