Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
August 5, 1999, Thursday ,City Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A23
LENGTH: 389 words
HEADLINE:
Dousing conservative spark, House votes more funds for legal;
aid
BYLINE: Associated Press
BODY:
WASHINGTON - The House voted yesterday to ease proposed
cuts in legal aid for the poor, as Democrats and moderate Republicans overcame
the latest conservative attack on the Legal Services Corp.
By 242-178, the House agreed to provide $250 million
next year for the corporation instead of the $141 million the
House Appropriations Committee had proposed.
The total would still fall
short of the $300 million provided for Legal Services this
year. But with President Clinton having requested $340 million
for fiscal 2000 and the Senate having already voted for $300
million, the final figure is likely to grow. The 25-year-old, nonprofit
corporation receives federal and private aid and distributes grants to local
boards of lawyers, who then provide free legal assistance to low-income people
in civil cases.
Legal Services is an annual target of conservatives. But
this year, opponents received added ammunition when the General Accounting
Office, Congress's auditor, concluded that five of the corporation's local
offices had counted 75,000 cases in 1997 that they couldn't document.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, said Legal
Services would "inflate their statistical data for the purposes of getting more"
federal money.
But Legal Services supporters said the errors resulted
from nothing more than bad record-keeping. They accused opponents of looking for
new reasons for their age-old dislike for the corporation.
"If you
believe in family values, let's protect some of these poor and middle-class
people who can't afford to protect their families," said Representative Carrie
Meek, a Florida Democrat.
Supporters added $109 million
from cuts scattered among the FBI, federal prisons and courts, and other
programs.
The amendment to increase the funding was supported by 198
Democrats, 43 Republicans, and one independent. Five Democrats and 173
Republicans opposed it.
The Legal Services funds were part of a
$37.7 billion measure financing the Departments of Justice,
State and Commerce and smaller agencies for next year.
The bill faces a
White House veto threat because the measure provides less than Clinton wants for
legal aid, hiring local police officers, protecting endangered species, and US
payments to international organizations.
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