The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), the largest network of evangelical Christians in the U.S., urged Congress last week to remove the LSC private money restriction. An appropriations rider attached annually to LSC's federal funding, the law restricts the work that civil legal aid programs can do with the more than $300 million raised each year from non-federal sources. In separate letters to Congressmen Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Alan Mollohan (D-WV), and to Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), respectively the Chairman and Ranking Member of the relevant appropriations subcommittees in the House and Senate, the NAE asserted, "Ministering to the poor, the persecuted, the disabled, the sick, and the oppressed is among the most important callings of evangelical Christians. With that responsibility in mind, the National Association of Evangelicals is deeply concerned about a federal appropriations law that interferes with privately financed activities of deep importance to our country's most vulnerable families."To read the letters, visit http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/pov/dobbins%20national%20campaign/index.html.

Based on original reporting by the Brennan Center staff.