On January 13, House and Senate negotiators unveiled an agreement for funding the federal government for the remainder of FY 2014. As part of that agreement, the federal defender program, which faced devastating cuts in 2013 and expected even greater cuts this year, received a boost in funding well above the levels imposed by sequestration. This represents the successful culmination of months of advocacy led by TCP and federal defenders, with the help of private attorneys and a broad coalition of advocacy organizations.
The $1.044 billion in funding provided to federal defenders should help prevent further furloughs, could allow some federal defender offices to hire staff, and should allow reimbursement rates for court-appointed counsel to return to 2013 levels. In the coming weeks, the Judicial Conference-which oversees the federal defender program-will make critical decisions about how this funding will be used. The precise impact of this funding depends on those decisions, including how the money will be divided among individual federal defender offices.
On the merits, this is a good idea. Increasing funding for federal defenders is something I have supported for years. They are overburdened and do a professional job. The point is that, if Congress can see the need to increase the funding for defense lawyers, it's just very curious that it can't see the need to increase funding for keeping criminals off the street (and out of your neighborhood).
As I say, the fiscal argument for the SSA is a fraud.
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