Saving Legal Services Corp’s Funding: Inside The Battle

President Trump is expected to release his budget for the next fiscal year in late May, and then Congress will have an appropriations process and during which time LSC’s funding level will be determined.

News Story (NATIONAL)

Gabe Friedman
Bloomberg
May 5, 2017
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Funding: Federal

Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Services Corporation (LSC)

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DETAILS

For Jim Sandman, president of the Legal Services Corp., the narrowly averted government shutdown last week was both a relief and a call to action.

Congress passed a resolution that maintained funding for most federal agencies and recipients including his organization, which is the primary funder for Legal Aid and civil legal assistance organizations around the country.

But there’s no question that Sandman has scaled back his hopes since President Donald J. Trump proposed completely defunding the organization earlier this year. In fact, since more than 150 leaders from the country’s largest law firms signed a letter decrying the proposed cuts to the LSC in March, he has scaled back his budgetary request for this year from $502 million to $385 million. Sandman said he was glad Congress didn’t cut his organization’s funding in the latest budget negotiations.