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(Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, many years ago, the Congress of the United States, under the principle that all Americans, rich or poor, should have equal access to protection under the law through legal representation in the courts, created the Legal Services Corporation. This was designed to give the itinerant, the poor American without means, access to the courts.
We had hoped it would do a good job of service for the American people. Many of us have been surprised to discover the number of times we hear from constituents that they have been turned away from the Corporation. They did not have time for this person's case. So we began to ask what is going on. I have to tell my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, the results we are discovering are heartbreaking.
Reports from the Inspector General's office showed that the Legal Services Corporation grossly overstated their case load by 70 percent. But they have not told Congress.
Since Congress could no longer rely on timely, accurate information from LSC, we asked the General Accounting Office to look at five of LSC's largest grantees, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Puerto Rico. GAO found the same: LSC bloating the numbers, misrepresenting the number of people they actually assist.
At the very least, Congress needs to be able to trust the information government departments and agencies provide and that it is timely and accurate. Not only does LSC give Congress overstated caseload reports, they hide the truth and refuse to tell Congress. Personally, I find this insulting. The American people have a right to expect more from their government.
Mr. Speaker, it comes down to this: How can the Legal Services Corporation claim to be helping poor people when they do not even know how many people they are helping?
Mr. Speaker, when Congress expresses the compassion of the American people by providing a service to its very most poor and needy, those agencies must deliver those services, and they must be accountable to Congress.
Legal Services Corporation must be made to do their duty for the American people. We simply cannot fund that kind of misrepresentation of the Nation's goodwill.
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