(Washington, DC) Jo-Ann Wallace, President and CEO, National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) issued the following statement in response to the House Appropriations Committee’s passage of the fiscal year 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill and their commitment to review increasing funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC):
“While NLADA welcomes the full Appropriations Committee’s commitment to review increasing LSC funding to help meet the nation’s needs for quality legal aid, we are deeply disappointed by the proposed nearly 25 percent cut to current LSC funding. A newly released study reaffirmed that the current appropriations level for LSC is inadequate to truly address the existing and ever-expanding justice gap. Unfortunately, the planned cuts to LSC's current funding further threaten our nation’s ability to ensure equal representation to low-income Americans.
We now urge the Senate CJS Appropriations subcommittee to increase the LSC funding above and beyond 2017 levels in its version of the bill. Doing anything less will hinder our nation’s promise of equal justice for all Americans.”
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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association, founded in 1911, is America’s oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. NLADA has pioneered access to justice at the national, state and local levels through the creation of our public defender systems and other important institutions from The Sentencing Project to the Legal Services Corporation. A leader in the development of national standards for civil legal aid and public defense, NLADA also provides advocacy, training and technical assistance for equal justice advocates across the country.