Howard Berman: “first, I think it is fair to say this fight is not about money. It is about implementing an effort by some Members of…”

“first, I think it is fair to say this fight is not about money. It is about implementing an effort by some Members of the other party to eliminate the Legal Services program. My friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Gekas] says ``If there were $250 million in a block grant, I would support it.'' We have been waiting for a year and 3 months for the authorization bill which turned this program into a block grant program to come to the floor. It is not us, it is not the supporters of this amendment who have fought that. It is the leadership who has kept that from coming to the floor. We talk about class warfare. Let me suggest, I understand why some apartment owners, some growers, some government officials do not want Legal Services programs, because they do not want to afford the rights that the law gives. The right move is not to eliminate the poor's access to lawyers. The right way to do it is to change the laws that we do not like that accords substantive rights to people. Surely once those rights are accorded, we would agree that everyone should have access to them.”