Legal Services Corporation victorious with legislative funding increase
 In a significant legislative victory, the Senate recently adopted the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill, which provides nearly $42 million more in funding for the Legal Services Corporation than in FY 2007. Under the bill, LSC would be funded at $390 million for the coming fiscal year.
While still woefully underfunded and unable to assist all people who need and seek legal assistance, the increase will mean that legal services will be able to help more low-income clients, including victims of domestic violence, military personnel and families on the verge of homelessness due to mortgage foreclosures.
About the Legal
Services Corporation
LSC formed in 1974 to ensure that all Americans have access to a lawyer and the justice system for civil legal issues regardless of their ability to pay.
The LSC currently funds approximately 172 local programs serving every county, state and Congressional District in the United States and its territories.
These local programs provide direct services to more than one million constituents who struggle to get by on incomes below or near the poverty line as established by the Department of Health and Human Services. LSC clients include the working poor, veterans, family farmers and people with disabilities. |
Prior to final passage of the appropriations measure, the Senate rejected — on an overwhelming bipartisan vote — an amendment that would have reduced the $42 million increase approved by the Appropriations Committee by $20 million, from $390 to $370 million. In a letter the ABA sent to senators prior to the vote to cut funding, the association wrote, "Local legal aid programs make a real difference in the lives of millions of low-income American families by helping them resolve everyday legal matters, including family law, housing and consumer issues, and by helping them obtain wrongly denied benefits such as social security and veterans' pensions. Soldiers and their families most often seek help with estate planning, consumer and landlord/tenant problems and family law."
After final passage of the bill, ABA President William Neukom applauded Senate passage, saying in a statement, "Every American should have access to the legal system, not just those who can afford it. The Senate’s decision to restore $42 million to the Legal Service Corporation’s funding is a major victory for millions of low-income citizens, who need legal assistance to safeguard their health, housing and other basic necessities."
The latest letter to the Hill is a small piece of the association's extensive and ongoing direct and grassroots lobbying efforts, as well as coordinated efforts with state and local bars, to ensure access to justice for all. To learn more, click here.
The House of Representatives previously approved $377 million for LSC. The appropriations bill is, at this writing, awaiting deliberations by a House-Senate conference committee.
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© 2007 American Bar Association
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