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The U.S. House voted this week to deny any federal funding to ACORN, the national community organizing and housing group that has been at the center of much controversy. (Background here and here.)

That 345-75 vote came in the form of an amendment to a student aid bill, which also passed the House.

In North Carolina’s delegation, Reps. David Price and G.K. Butterfield voted against the “motion to recommit with instructions.” All other Republicans in the delegation voted for the measure, as did most of the other Democrats.

Rep. Mel Watt voted “present,” a way to show he was on the job but lend neither support nor opposition to a bill. Usually, it’s interpreted as a sign of displeasure with what’s going on.

“I occasionally do that when somebody brings up something under a bill that’s just totally irrelevant,” Watt said Friday. “There’s no way ACORN was going to get any money under this bill.”

I should note at this point: It’s not completely uncommon for amendments to get strung on to somewhat unrelated pieces of legislation. In fact, if that didn’t happen, the Senate would move a whole lot slower. It’s slightly rarer in the House, but by no means unique.

“It was just totally a political ploy be the Republicans and had nothing to do with this bill,” Watt said.