On the recordMay 8, 2012
Mr. Chair, I was off campus, and I got a notice from my staff that this amendment was here. I kind of knew it was coming, but I find it shocking. In these economic times, there is more of a need for legal services than there has ever been a need for legal services. There are more people that have been economically hurt because of this economy who haven't been able to get jobs because we haven't passed a transportation bill to put people to work, we haven't passed jobs bills to put people to work. When people are out of work and they're economically deprived, they are more likely to have domestic violence in their homes. It's a direct cause and a direct relationship. They're more likely to be behind in their payments on their house and have problems with their mortgage where they need legal services because they're facing foreclosure. More people are in need of help than ever before, and yet we're taking legal services away from poor people who are the Purple Hearts, the victims of this recession/depression, whichever we're having. This is just hard to fathom. It's unfair, it's unwise, and it violates every Judeo- Christian principle that I can conjure up and imagine. {time} 2120 What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me. And when you take people who are being foreclosed upon, victims of domestic violence, or whatever other purpose and taking away the opportunity to get legal representation, that is un-American.…





