Political Quotes

“First of all, there is a difference in indigent legal representation in criminal cases and civil cases. The criminal defense, it's required by the Constitution that you have to provide that, and whatever it costs, the defendant is entitled to representation. In civil court, you don't have that technical requirement. But some of the cases where people need but cannot afford attorneys deal with some of the most important parts of our life: housing, family law, divorce, child custody, consumer rip-offs, health care, things where you actually need representation that legal aid provides. Legal aid programs cannot meet the needs of their demands right now. Most legal aid programs, as the gentleman from Virginia said, turn down a lot more than they can take. And because of the recession, the demand is much higher than it has been in the past. When you talk about rights, rights without remedies are no rights at all. When rights in our democracy depend on the generosity of a few pro bono attorneys, we're actually violating our democratic values. As my colleague again mentioned, traditional Federal funding is down and another traditional funding for legal aid services--Interest on Lawyers Trust Account--is also way down because interest rates are at historic lows. Mr. Chairman, we should support our democratic principles and support legal aid services and oppose this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.”