Pelosi to Boehner: How Much Will DOMA Defense Cost?

"It is important that the House receive an estimate of the cost to taxpayers for engaging private lawyers to intervene in the pending DOMA cases," the Democratic Leader wrote in a Friday letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner.

"The American people want Congress to be working on the creation of jobs and ensuring the continued progress of our economic recovery rather than involving itself unnecessarily in such costly and divisive litigation," Pelosi wrote in a Friday letter to the Speaker.

Earlier this week, Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, the two Democrats on the five-member House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, voted against authorizing the House to defend the 1996 law in court.

The advisory group's three Republican members — Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy — all voted to authorize the House general counsel to intervene in multiple federal lawsuits against DOMA, as well as retain outside counsel.