ICYMI: DURBIN, WELCH, OSSOFF, BOOKER, AND HIRONO LEAD 18 OF THEIR COLLEAGUES IN LETTER TO SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE LEADERS URGING CORRECTIONS TO PROPOSED FEDERAL DEFENDERS' FUNDING

Letter

Dear Chair Murray, Vice Chair Collins, Chair Van Hollen, and Ranking Member Hagerty:

Federal Public and Community Defenders are fundamental to the function of federal courts
across the country. To preserve the operation of our justice system, we urge you to pass funding
for Defender Services that is at a minimum $108 million higher than the House mark and $136
million more than the Senate mark in the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG)
appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. This funding level of $1.519 billion is necessary
to simply maintain current operations by the Federal Defenders and would still result in the
program foregoing necessary training and information technology (IT) improvements. Congress
should also consider FY24 funding for Defender Services at a level that avoids even these nonpersonnel cost-cutting measures.

Notably, both the Senate and House FSGG bills, as currently proposed, rely on the FY23 enacted
funding level for Defender Services. This enacted level, however, does not consider that
Defender Services had a significant and unusual carryforward of $110 million from FY22, a
result of unobligated funds from COVID-19 related closures during that period of time. These
funds were properly reported to Congress and carried into the following year; this resulted in a
reduction in the Federal Defenders' FY23 appropriation. Any funding legislation Congress
passes for FY24 should adequately compensate for this carryforward and address inflationary
cost pressures to avoid cuts to personnel and non-personnel functions.

Without addressing this gap in funding, Federal Defenders have estimated that funding at the
current House or Senate marks would, conservatively, result in a 9-12% reduction in their current
workforce. Federal Defenders are already approximately 100 full-time equivalent (FTE)
positions below FY23 authorized staffing and approximately 400 FTEs below the level
recommended by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' most recent work management
study. An overwhelming majority of the Federal Defender budget is dedicated to personnel and
space. Cuts to federal funding will directly impact employees, leading to a reduction in the
number of paralegals, investigators, and attorneys.

Nearly 9 in 10 individuals charged with a federal crime cannot afford legal representation and
thus are constitutionally entitled to appointed counsel. Preserving the public defender workforce
is essential to our justice system. Because the Constitution requires the court to appoint counsel
for individuals who cannot afford a lawyer, if there are fewer public defenders available, the
court must refer more cases to private attorneys on the Criminal Justice Act panel. Although
panel attorneys are dedicated to the public defense function, sending excess cases to the panel
often incurs higher costs.

Consequently, decreasing the Federal Defender budget may in fact increase costs on the federal
judiciary, paradoxically costing the federal government more. Furthermore, panel attorneys are
overwhelmingly small business owners--solo practitioners and small-firm attorneys--who
cannot afford the potential deferment in Criminal Justice Act payments that Defender Services
may be forced to implement under the current FY24 appropriations marks.

Instead, Congress should follow through on its Constitutional responsibility to adequately fund
federal public defense. We urge you to provide adequate funding for Defender Services in both
chambers' FSGG legislation or through supplemental appropriations legislation Congress may
consider. Correcting the potential shortfall by providing at least $108 million more than the
House bill and $136 million more than the Senate bill to Defender Services will, at a bare
minimum, maintain the right to counsel in federal court and continue the bipartisan support this
program has historically received.

Thank you for the strong support Federal Defenders have received in the past. We appreciate
your attention to this matter and look forward to working together to safeguard our Federal
Defenders' resources.

Sincerely,

Source