ABA president applauds Senate subcommittee for Legal Services Corp. funding recommendation
Photograph of Linda Klein courtesy of the office of the president.
A U.S. Senate subcommittee has recommended $385 million in funding for the Legal Services Corp. in fiscal 2018, the same amount of funds the civil legal-aid provider received this year.
ABA President Linda A. Klein said in a statement that the ABA applauds the funding recommendation by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. President Donald Trump had proposed eliminating all funding for the LSC.
One-fourth of the LSC’s funding comes from the federal government, and it “is instrumental in helping the LSC meet the constitutional promise of equal justice under the law,” Klein said in the statement.
Klein said the ABA is confident that the full Senate Appropriations Committee will pass the $385 million funding bill Thursday. “We look forward to the House matching the Senate’s funding level in the final bill later this year,” Klein said.
Klein called the LSC “an essential part of our American justice system” that “ensures equal access to civil justice for all Americans, regardless of income” and said the LSC is the single largest funder of civil legal aid programs in the United States.
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