Introduction of the District of Columbia Public Defender Service Technical Correction Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Public Defender Service Technical Correction Act, which would fix a drafting error in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. Unless fixed, this error will force the D.C. Public Defender Service (PDS) to close one day per week beginning in mid-June through the rest of the current fiscal year. I very much appreciate that Senator Chris Van Hollen will be introducing the bill in the Senate. I also appreciate that he filed an amendment on the Senate floor to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 to fix this error, but am disappointed that the Senate did not take it up.
PDS is independent of the D.C. government, is exclusively funded by the federal government and its employees are deemed federal employees for purposes of federal benefits. The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 provides PDS $53,629,000 in fiscal year 2024, the same funding level PDS received in fiscal year 2023. However, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 requires PDS to spend $3 million of its appropriation on office relocation expenses, even though PDS had already relocated offices before the bill was enacted. PDS needs the authority to spend that $3 million on salaries, or it will be forced to close one day per week. My bill would give PDS the authority to spend that $3 million on salaries.
The drafting error will not only harm PDS employees, who will not be paid when PDS is closed, it will also harm the local criminal justice system in D.C. On the days that PDS is closed, PDS attorneys will not appear in any matter before the D.C. Superior Court, the D.C. Court of Appeals, the U.S. Parole Commission or other administrative or adjudicative body. The local D.C. court system is already facing a backlog of cases because of a shortage of judges, who are appointed by the president, subject to Senate confirmation. The PDS furloughs will only exacerbate this problem. This is simply an unacceptable result, especially when it will have been caused by what everyone acknowledges is a drafting error, and not a deliberate cut to PDS's funding.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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