Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee implored congressional appropriators to ensure that the federal public defender program has adequate funding for fiscal year 2026 after budget shortfalls (Letter available here).
Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate’s only former public defender, joined Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and eight Senators in sending a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee leadership urging robust funding for federal defenders in the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) appropriations bill.
Congress is currently on its August recess, but when members return after Labor Day they will be facing a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.
The Senators wrote: “As you develop the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) appropriations bill for Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), we ask that you provide robust funding to Defender Services."
"Defender services is critical to ensuring the Sixth Amendment's bedrock guarantee of counsel in criminal proceedings."
Already, "federal defender organizations across the country are understaffed and face burnout among overworked employees," the senators wrote. Additionally, as of early July, funds for panel attorneys were exhausted.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts predicts that if funded at the House level, "federal defenders may be required to downsize by 600 positions or more, and another deferment of panel attorney payments could be necessary beginning even earlier next year," the letter says.