As Its Annual Appropriation is Considered, Strong Opinions about the Legal Services Corporation are Alive and Well in Congress
Conflicting sentiments surround the federal agency that helps provide legal services to California farm workers and the poor.
Some lawmakers now hope to boost funding for the Legal Services Corp. and lift some longstanding restrictions on its work. Others consider the agency a bastion of liberal activism and want it curtailed.
No region has a bigger stake in the political outcome than the Central Valley [in California], home to thousands of legal services clients as well as some of the federal program’s most vocal critics.
The article notes that while President Obama supports a slight boost in LSC’s annual appropriation, from $420 to $435 million next fiscal year, some in Congress wish to significantly expand LSC’s funding and vanquish operating restrictions that have hindered grantee organinizations from offering a full range of advocacy techniques to their clients. (The article also notes that a jam-packed legislative calendar this fall, in tandem with the strong feelings around LSC, may make it difficult to get a new appropriation passesd before recess.)
Political debate surrounding LSC is, of course, nothing new. Recently, we covered the (controversial-but-eventually-successful) nomination of Sharon Browne to the LSC’s board, and tracked the LSC’s work on the Hill to lobby for additional funding to serve the increased numbers of impoverished individuals and families throughout the country.
