John Thune: “I do not believe an organization that has received such stinging criticism from the GAO about management practices and…”

“I do not believe an organization that has received such stinging criticism from the GAO about management practices and its handling of taxpayer dollars should be receiving such a substantial increase in funding that is reflected in the underlying bill. My amendment simply reduces a $40 million increase to a $20 million increase for the Legal Services Corporation for fiscal year 2008. That is, the Legal Services Corporation would still receive an increase under my amendment, just not nearly as substantial as originally reflected in the underlying bill. As I said earlier, we must begin to choose priorities. Should we provide more badly needed funding to fight violent crime in Indian country or should we reward an organization that is engaged in wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars by providing a massive increase over the President's recommendation of $300 million, and a massive increase even compared to the amount of funding it received in the last fiscal year of $348 million? I urge the Senate to join me in voting for more funding to help reduce violent crime in Indian country and to address what is a very desperate need across Indian reservations in South Dakota, and to do it in a way that is consistent, I believe, with what the priorities in this underlying bill ought to be, by paying for it with a $20 million increase, actually, that is going to be allocated this year to the Legal Services Corporation. In my judgment, in my view, that makes sense.”