[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC DEFENDER SERVICE 
                        TECHNICAL CORRECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                        of district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 21, 2024

  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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