The Hill News

House Democrats have requested to review the contract between members of Congress and the lawyer that Republicans plan on hiring to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

In a letter sent to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday, Reps. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) requested that all members of the Committee on House Administration Committee be allowed to review the contract between lawmakers and Paul Clement, the Bancroft PLLC lawyer chosen to represent Congress in defending the act, which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

"If a new contract is to be signed, we are requesting that all members of the Committee on House Administration have a full opportunity to review and raise questions about its provisions," the letter reads.

The letter also asks that Boehner answers the same questions Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked concerning members of Congress! hiring a lawyer to defend DOMA.

"The questions that were raised by Leader Pelosi on the issues of transparency, cost, and ethical considerations regarding the earlier contract with King & Spalding, in her letters to you of April 18 and April 20, continue to be pertinent both to the original and to any proposed successor contract, and we would appreciate your answers to those questions," the letter reads.

The letter comes just a day after Clement resigned from law firm King & Spalding because that firm withdrew from representing the House in defense of the act. Previously King & Spalding had been contracted by the Committee on House Administration to pay Clement $500,000 to defend DOMA. Clement moved to Bancroft the day he quit and Boehner's office has said it plans to draw up a similar contract and pay Clement the same salary.

Democrats have complained that they were largely left in the dark on hiring a lawyer to defend DOMA, which Republic! ans did in response to President Obama's decision to order the! Departm ent of Justice to discontinue defending the act.

"We are particularly concerned, as the Democratic Members of the Committee on House Administration, that we were not informed of such a contract nor given the opportunity to review its provisions, including the as much as $500,000 cost," the letter reads.