Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for the time of both my colleagues. I want to recognize the extraordinary commitment that my colleague, Mr. Pittenger, has made to counterterrorism and trying to protect the safety and security of the United States.

I will say, though, Mr. Chairman, I did work as a legal aid attorney, a legal aid volunteer many years ago when I was a law student. We spent countless hours trying to keep a roof over the head of tenants who were being kicked out of their home through no fault of their own because a landlord wasn't paying a mortgage. Now, you had people who were going homeless because they did nothing wrong but couldn't avail themselves of an attorney.

To try to find, now, ways to gut that funding when, with low interest rates--one of the key methods of funding for Legal Services across this country is from interest on lawyer's trust accounts. Because of low interest rates, that funding has been basically nonexistent. In Massachusetts, that went from about $34 million a year down to $4 million a year.

We are gutting a very basic tenet of what this country is all about. We spend so much time in these Chambers, Mr. Chairman, talking about how these laws are shaped to touch people's lives and very little time speaking about the enforcement and protections that they provide. Mr. Chairman, this is that moment, and I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the amendment.

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, once again, I rise in support of the Legal Services Corporation.

This is an organization that is the major source of funding for legal aid offices all across this country. The funding, as my colleague indicated, has not kept pace with need, inflation, or reality.

The fact of the matter is, Mr. Chairman--and I have seen as a legal aid volunteer in the courtrooms and then again as a prosecutor the impact of adequate legal representation. I spent hours and hours, along with other volunteers, trying to ensure that citizens of this country who, through no fault of their own, are being victimized by large interests or by folks who did know how to navigate the legal system could have adequate representation in the courts.

Mr. Chairman, inside these halls, we debate with great vigor and great detail the nuances to every single piece of legislation, yet spend far too little time discussing the impact of how that is going to be enforced after it becomes law. That is what the Legal Services Corporation does.

The fact is, in many ways, another source of funding for Legal Services is through the interest on lawyers' trusts accounts, IOLTA funding. With low interest rates over the course of past several years, that funding has been devastated.

In Massachusetts alone, that used to be about $34 million a year through a separate fund that has been reduced to $4 million. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Chairman, that Legal Services has already been decimated at a time when more and more people need to understand that they have access to a fair and just legal system. That is what this amendment seeks to do.

That is why I am proud to support it, and I ask my colleagues to do the same.

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