Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Federal Appropriations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
LSC warns House CJS bill would sharply cut FY27 funding
Summary
LSC vice president Carol Bergman told the finance committee the House CJS bill would reduce the corporation’s FY27 appropriation to about $268 million from $540 million; staff said the House figure is a starting point and final funding remains uncertain amid Senate delays and significant congressional turnover.
Carol Bergman, vice president of government relations at the Legal Services Corporation, told the finance committee that the House Appropriations Committee had passed a Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that "would roughly cut LSC's funding in half, bringing our appropriation to 268,000,000." She noted the figure is a starting point and that a House floor vote had not been scheduled.
The concern matters because LSC is federally funded and staff said the allocation process remains unsettled in the Senate, where leadership disputes over defense and nondefense spending have stalled progress. Bergman said that the Senate has repeatedly scheduled and then canceled consideration of the CJS bill and that, as of the committee meeting, "there does not appear to be any compromise in sight and nothing is scheduled for the Senate."
Bergman urged members to continue outreach and file letters of support, noting the time pressure: the House has very limited legislative days before the midterm elections. She reported a House "Dear Colleague" with 132 signatures and 46 Senate signatures in support of LSC; she also listed external supporters, including letters from 132 corporate general counsels, 154 law firms, 66 law deans, 40 bipartisan state attorneys general and the Conference of Chief Justices.
Bergman warned members that heavy congressional turnover could affect LSC’s bipartisan champions. "As of today, there are already 91 departures from Congress, including 78 in the House and 13 in the Senate," she said, and cited the potential loss of long-time supporters such as Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Dan Sullivan as a reason to cultivate new champions on both sides of the aisle.
The session closed with a reminder that agency budgets are due to the Office of Management and Budget in early September and that the final appropriations outcome will depend on negotiations later in the calendar year. Bergman and members said they expect the earliest substantive negotiations to occur in late November or December after the midterm elections.
Next steps: LSC will continue outreach and encourage stakeholders to press congressional offices; the House number should be treated as a preliminary position rather than a final appropriation.
