Appropriators from both parties say they are working to address a budget pitfall for federal public defenders, as funding uncertainty already has led to a nationwide hiring freeze for offices tasked with representing poor defendants.
Lawmakers in both chambers say the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2024 Financial Services and General Government spending bill, which covers defender services, would effectively cut its funding. Adding $108 million to the House proposal and $136 million to the Senate mark would at a bare minimum support the right to an attorney in federal court, the lawmakers argue.
Increasing the figures is among the issues appropriators face as they negotiate a final version of the Financial Services bill. That measure has a March 8 deadline in the current stopgap law, part of a greater clash over government funding that has led to multiple stopgap spending measures.
