[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17975]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             25TH ANNIVERSARY OF LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, today the White House is holding a party 
celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation.
  Mr. Speaker, this is no time to celebrate. We now know that the Legal 
Services Corporation massively misrepresented its caseload to Congress. 
In fact, according to a recent study, LSC misreported a full one-third 
of its cases to Congress. That kind of waste and mismanagement are 
hardly causes for celebration.
  LSC was inflating numbers. LSC was giving Congress misleading 
information. LSC was wasting taxpayer money. And worst of all, it was 
neglecting the very people it claims to help.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot reward poor performance and misleading 
information. No birthday celebration can paper over the fact that the 
Legal Services Corporation is not helping as many people as it claims.
  Now that the false cases have been exposed, it is clear that LSC does 
not deserve the funding it has been getting. In fact, Mr. Speaker, 
perhaps they should make their case before the false claims court.
  Mr. Speaker, given LSC's habit of inflating numbers by a third, I 
would not be surprised if that birthday cake at the White House today 
has 33 candles on it.

                          ____________________