Trump Budget Would Eliminate Funding for Legal Services Corp.
This week the White House released its $1.15 trillion budget—which, among other things, that targets domestic programs and calls for eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, low-income heating assistance, and the AmeriCorps national-service program; it would also reduce funding for, among other things, Environmental Protection Agency, medical research, help for homeless veterans, and community-development grants. Another agency on the chopping block is the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In FY16, Congress gave LSC $385 million—less than one-ten-thousandth of the federal budget. Our court systems are not designed for people to go it alone; cutting or eliminating LSC funding would especially harm the elderly, victims of domestic violence, veterans, tenants, and those in rural areas. And in many places, LSC-funded legal-aid organizations are the only sources of civil-legal services.