[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1380-E1381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FUNDING FOR THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 25, 1996

  Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. Speaker, this week the House of Representatives 
approved the spending bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, 
State, Judiciary, and related agencies for fiscal year 1997. One 
particular program buried within the $29.5 billion bill that has evoked 
immeasurable controversy is funding for the Legal Services Corporation. 
Prior to my election to Congress, I practiced law for almost 20 years, 
and it is through my experiences with the American legal system that I 
feel confident and qualified to comment on this valuable program.
  The Legal Services Corporation [LSC] is a modest but vitally 
important and effective program that helps millions of needy families 
gain access to the justice system in cases relating to domestic 
violence, housing evictions, consumer fraud, child support, and other 
critical matters. The legal services program is the only means to 
assure that the most vulnerable citizens in our country--poor children, 
battered spouses, the elderly, disabled, migrant workers, and other 
low-income individuals--have access to legal representation in civil 
cases.

[[Page E1381]]

  The Legal Services Corporation has been under assault by 
conservatives for many years. They argue that the LSC has been a front 
to advance and lobby for progressive policies. Nothing can be further 
from the truth. The LSC, begun in 1974 and supported by President 
Nixon, is a bipartisan program. It has served millions of people, 
including helping nearly 5 million people in 1995, most of whom were 
poor children. Further, in 1995, 1 out of every 3 legal services cases 
concerned family law, which included 59,000 cases involving protecting 
clients from abusive spouses, and more than 9,300 cases involving 
neglected, abused, and dependent juveniles.
  Restrictions have been placed on the operations of the programs of 
the LSC, and funding and staff levels have been severely cut. In 1994-
95, the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau had a total of 143 lawyers and 80 
legal assistants. As a result of the fiscal year 1996 cut, Maryland's 
Legal Aid Bureau lost $1.4 million and reduced its lawyers to 92 and 57 
legal assistants. Under the fiscal year 1997 Republican funding bill, 
Maryland stood to lose $1.5 million more, which would result in further 
staff cuts and leave thousands of Maryland residents without adequate 
legal representation.
  Last year's funding bill for legal services quieted the voices of the 
needy, this year's bill attempted to silence those voices. The $141 
million recommended by the House Appropriations Committee is a cut of 
nearly 50 percent from the current fiscal year 1996 budget of $278 
million for the Legal Services Corporation. Fortunately, an amendment 
offered by Representatives Mollahan and Fox, which I supported, 
increased the funding for the Legal Services Corporation from $141 to 
$250 million.
  As a lawyer, I was one of 130,000 volunteer lawyers registered to 
participate in pro bono legal services, encouraged by the LSC. The one 
hard fact that I witnessed throughout my years of practice is that our 
system of justice belongs to the wealthy and privileged. Rare is the 
day when indigents or poor citizens receive equitable treatment in 
their representation and receive equal justice under law.
  I believe that ours is the best judicial system in the world. But 
every day across this country, citizens with meager resources have 
little or no voice in that process. I hope the Senate will follow our 
lead in the House and ensure that low-income individuals and families 
will be able to receive legal help.

                          ____________________