[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE POOR

  (Mr. GEKAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, very soon now, this 
House will be engaged in a great debate as to whether or not to 
preserve legal services to the poor as is now a part of the Federal 
establishment.
  There is general agreement across the board from those who want to 
zero it out altogether and not spend one penny in the support of legal 
services from the Federal Government to those who would expand the 
legal services grouping, as we now know it; somewhere in the middle 
lies the final principle upon which this House will take action.
  Do we want to provide legal services access to the courts for the 
poor? The answer is resoundingly probably, yes. But do we want to 
allocate Federal funds to a private corporation to dole out these sums 
to help the poor in the various States, or do we want to shrink the 
amount of money, send it to the States in the form of block grants and 
have them decide how to provide legal services for the poor?
  These are the outlines for the debate that is yet to come.

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