Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is the new chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the Senate panel responsible for conducting oversight of the Legal Services Corporation. He replaces Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who died last month. Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.) remains the committee’s ranking member.

Harkin is a former legal aid lawyer who is passionately committed to ensuring equal access to justice for all Americans. In March, he introduced the Civil Access to Justice Act of 2009 (S. 718), a bill to reauthorize the Legal Services Corporation and increase its annual authorized funding level to $750 million. He has also led efforts to secure increased funding for legal aid programs following Hurricane Katrina and for programs that faced budget cuts following the 2000 census.

Before his election to Congress in 1974, Harkin was a staff attorney for Polk County Legal Aid, a predecessor to the LSC-funded Iowa Legal Aid. His service there earned him a spot in the legal aid program’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

Learn more about Senator Harkin

From LSC Update, September 17, 2009