The 49 Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former public defender, and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., said they were grateful for the $1.564 billion "anomaly," or funding adjustment, for public defenders in the continuing resolution enacted in November that runs through Jan. 30. However, the defender program is still in financial jeopardy, they warned.
"As a result of two years of underfunding because of a calculation error, Defender Services began FY26 significantly in the red," the Democrats said in a letter dated Dec. 5 and publicized on Dec. 8. "The current funding level, based on the recent anomaly, is still $194 million short of what is required to fund the program."
They asked the leadership on the relevant House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees to grant the federal defender program the $1.76 billion for fiscal 2026 requested by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
This past year, Criminal Justice Act panel attorneys, who supplement the work of federal defenders, went more than four months without pay due to the funding crisis.
"Some attorneys had to take out loans, incur large credit card debt, or deplete their retirement funds in order to keep themselves afloat," the Democrats said.
"Even with funding at the level provided in the anomaly, this problem will repeat— even more significantly— this year," the letter read.
--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
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