Nita Lowey: “Legal aid offices in Sandy-affected areas are experiencing a huge increase in requests for civil legal assistance that…”

“Legal aid offices in Sandy-affected areas are experiencing a huge increase in requests for civil legal assistance that is directly related to the storm and its aftermath. The Legal Services Corporation exists precisely to help meet the civil legal needs of low-income Americans, and the Legal Services Corporation assistance is never more important than following a major disaster. Since Sandy hit, legal aid programs in New York and New Jersey have set up recovery hotlines, staffed FEMA disaster recovery centers, partnered with other State and local organizations to conduct disaster assistance training, and participated in clinics to provide legal counseling to affected communities. Local legal service programs are helping families obtain emergency food stamps, disaster-related unemployment insurance benefits and FEMA benefits to pay for rent and other expenses. The funding this amendment proposes to eliminate would enable local organizations to purchase the needed mobile resources and equipment and to hire the coordinators they need to manage volunteers. The $1 million this amendment would strike is a small amount relative to all of the other disaster relief efforts in the bill, but it will have a disproportionately large impact on the lives of low-income Americans it will help. I urge my colleagues to reject the amendment.”