|
NOLSW officers, staff, and members from around the country descended on Washington, DC September 14 and 15 to lobby against cuts to Legal Services Corporation funding for 2012. The delegation was led by President Gordon Deane and Financial Secretary-Treasurer Tim Yeager.
The primary targets of our efforts were House Republicans regarded as swing votes, because they had voted in February against an amendment offered by Rep. Duncan (R-TN) to zero fund legal services. The group also lobbied Senators in several states where we have NOLSW members. Tim Yeager and Northeast Regional Organizer Pam Smith also attended a breakfast on Thursday morning with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), who has been one of LSC’s strongest supporters for many years.
LSC is currently funded at $404 million, which represents a 4% cut from $420 million in FY 2010. President Obama’s budget for FY 2012 had called for an increase in LSC funding to $450 million. Prior to the recess, the Senate had not taken up any appropriations bills. The full House had not yet addressed the matter, either, but the House Appropriations Committee had marked up a bill for FY 2012 that would further reduce LSC funding by some 26% to $300 million.
NOLSW members reminded legislators of Wednesday morning’s headlines: 15.1% in the U.S. now officially live in poverty, the highest such number since 1993 (i.e. in almost two decades). The number of people who have fallen into poverty during the last ten-year census period is the worst it has been seen since the census began collecting such data in 1959. And, of course, a disproportionate number of those became impoverished near the end of that period, since 2008.
Yet, while the need for legal services skyrockets, funding has been cut again and again. The packets distributed to legislators included a graph starkly illustrating the fact that if LSC funding had essentially been flat-lined in real dollars for the last thirty years. Adjusting only for inflation, the $321 million funded to LSC in 1981—an amount that was thought to be minimally necessary federal funding— would now be more than $800 million.
Congressional members were also given figures on the number of constituents in their districts who have been served by LSC-funded programs just within the last year. It was also pointed out, however, that because of budget constraints, far more people are turned away than can be represented. Those who have not been triaged and are still served with what funding remains are often those with the most desperate of desperate needs, and it is these people that further cuts would most directly affect.
We pointed to the cost effectiveness of legal services, even in the short term, by keeping people in their homes, keeping families together, vindicating legitimate wage claims, etc. We also stressed the centrality of access-to-justice in a system that promises “Equal Justice Before the Law”, the ideal espoused by Republicans and Democrats alike and chiseled above the portals of the Supreme Court—an ideal which is not merely philosophical and cannot be undermined without provoking severe social costs.
At the end of the day on Wednesday the 14th, it was learned that the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for LSC funding had marked up a bill FY 2012 that includes a cut of 2% to $396 million. While this is certainly better than the 26% cut included in the House bill, we had hoped for the highest possible number from the Senate, which could prove to be essential when the time comes for reconciliation of the House and Senate bills—particularly considering the notoriously lopsided nature of compromise in Washington lately.
Ultimately, what NOLSW lobbying teams heard from both Democrat and Republican legislators was that we should not expect a prompt and final answer to the question of 2012 LSC funding level. Rather, Congress is likely to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that will continue to fund the government for a couple months—hopefully at the current level—while the battle over long-term deficit reduction is fought. If that is indeed the case, there may well be another NOLSW lobbying trip in our near future.
Many thanks are due to the members who used personal time to come to Washington. Special recognition, however, is owed to the yeoman’s labor that was done by Pam Smith on logistical aspects—from overseeing the scheduling of appointments, producing lobby packets, arranging lodging, and coordinating transportation to providing snacks and bottled water.
Download:
|
