Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Chair, I, along with my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Salmon), am offering an amendment to cut all funding from the Legal Services Corporation and to allocate that money to the Spending Reduction Account.
Legal Services Corporation was established 40 years ago, and I have no doubt that it was for the right reasons, but it hasn't been reauthorized since 1980. At no point in the last 34 years has either party in Congress felt that this agency was so important that it needed to be reauthorized.
In fact, in 2012, it was estimated that over 94 percent of the services that Legal Services was set up to provide were provided by State and local governments, bar associations, and pro bono work by attorneys.
This means that taxpayers are footing the bill of a million dollars a day for this service, yet this organization handles less than 6 percent of all indigent cases.
The purpose of this bill, Madam Chair, is to provide law enforcement to the American people. With $350 million, we could employ thousands of FBI agents, U.S. Marshals, and others to protect Americans from domestic threats every day. Instead, this bill proposes to provide significant funding to an entity that is plagued by abuse.
Allow me to provide a few examples, Madam Chair, from the recent LSC inspector general's report published April 30. The report found continued systemic deficiencies in the Legal Service Corporation grant program.
The Inspector General's Office opened 12 new investigations, including criminal cases that involved fraudulent activity and financial irregularities by grantee employees. The investigation also discovered unauthorized outside practice of law, as well as time and attendance abuse.
We are spending millions simply on the inspector general's investigations of Legal Services Corporation.
Additionally, cases arising from the Office of Inspector General resulted in the restitution of client trust fund moneys that had been converted to personal use.
As one example, these investigations resulted in the recovery of more than $21,000 in Legal Services funds for time spent by a grantee's attorney in unauthorized outside practices.
At a time of record deficits and climbing debt, we should eliminate the funding of this program, which has not been reauthorized by Congress, including this one, in 34 years.
Let's take the Legal Services Corporation off the taxpayers' payroll.
With that, Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Chair, if only Legal Services were limited to the things that the gen tle lady and the gentleman have discussed, like helping our veterans with foreclosures and other things, but in my part of the country, in the rural areas that I come from, Legal Services Corporation has hired plaintiffs that are pursuing our farmers and, quite honestly, attempting to put farmers out of business in Georgia. That is unacceptable and taxpayer funds should not be used for that.
With that, Madam Chair, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland).
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