While the Senate bill provides less than the $435 million requested by the Obama administration, which also supports lifting most restrictions on the LSC, its rejection of the "poison pill" provision removes one of the major obstacles to more effective legal representation for the poor.
Sen. Mikulski obviously had to make a tough call in deciding whether to give up some of the agency's funding in order to win enough Republican support to lift the bill's most onerous restriction, but we think she made the right choice. The financial flexibility legal aid groups would gain almost surely would be worth more than Sen. Mikulski gave up in direct funding. The legislation her subcommittee marked up last week still faces more hurdles before it can become law. But for the first time since 1996, it looks as if the LSC finally may be able to get back to providing the kind of essential legal services its founders envisioned and that poor people desperately need in order to secure their rights under the law.
