The House has set a salary cap of $500,000 for the outside counsel it has hired to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, according to a contract signed late last week.

Paul D. Clement, a former Bush administration solicitor general who has been tapped by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to lead the House's legal defense of DOMA, will work at a rate of $520 an hour, to be paid by the House General Counsel.