[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND STATE, AND JUDICIARY, AND RELATED 
                   AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 4, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4276) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and 
     State, the Judiciary, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes:

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the proposed 
$141 million account cut in funding to the Legal Services Corporation 
contained in H.R. 4276, the FY 1999 Commerce, Justice, State, and 
Judiciary appropriations bill. I would like to fundamentally affirm--
from the outset--the tremendous contribution which the Legal Services 
Corporation has made to this country's most vulnerable populations.
  The Legal Services Corporation provides a wide host of benefits to 
those Americans who cannot otherwise afford legal support. A 
precipitous decrease in funding, as would occur if this proposed 50 
percent decrease takes place, would resign America's poor and 
underserved to an unenviable situation where they would have little or 
no access to legal services. A measure of this sort would prove nothing 
less than unconscionable.
  The Legal Services Corporation was created in 1974 by the Nixon 
administration with broad bipartisan congressional support. The program 
was created to provide civil legal support to those American citizens 
and legal aliens who could least afford it. Since its inception, the 
program has characteristically served those generally underrepresented 
segments of our society, Including African-Americans and Hispanics, as 
well as women who are victims of domestic violence. Statistically 
speaking, the Legal Services Corporation's client pool is as follows: 
27 percent are African-American, 16.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.6 percent 
are native American, and an overwhelming amount, 68 percent, are 
female.
  Last year alone, the Legal Services Corporation provided legal 
support to over 57,000 spouses who were victims of domestic abuse. The 
LSC provides legal support and counseling to close to 4 million 
Americans, and in 1997, the corporation was responsible for closing 
approximately 1.5 million legal cases.
  Without the support of the LSC, many of these individuals would have 
absolutely no place to turn because the LSC is very often the place of 
last resort for those who can ill afford it. This was demonstrated in 
1996 when Congress irresponsibly reduced funding for the LSC by 31 
percent. According to estimates from the LSC itself, this reduced the 
amount of legal support offered by the organization by 14 percent.
  This number does not represent a number in the abstract. Rather, it 
designates Americans and legal immigrants who--simply because they are 
poor--did not receive a day in court to address, and perhaps receive 
compensation for the wrongs that they have suffered.
  Mr. Chairman, we must not close the only door that the most 
vulnerable of us have to address their legal wrongs. Thus, I urge my 
colleagues to vote no to the amendment to cut funding for the Legal 
Services Corporation by 50 percent.

                          ____________________