[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 139 (Monday, September 9, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS AND PUBLIC DEFENDER 
           SERVICE VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENT ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 9, 2024

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the District of Columbia 
Courts and Public Defender Service Voluntary Separation Incentive 
Payments Act. This bill, which the House passed in the 114th Congress, 
would make a small but important change to the authority of the 
District of Columbia Courts (D.C. Courts) and the Public Defender 
Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), giving them the same 
authority federal agencies and federal courts already have to offer 
voluntary separation incentive payments, or buyouts, to their 
employees.
  Congress has provided this authority to the D.C. Courts and PDS on an 
annual basis in the last several appropriations bills. However, this 
bill would make this authority permanent. This authority would give the 
D.C. Courts and PDS additional flexibility to respond to administrative 
and budgetary needs.
  The U.S. Government Accountability Office has opined that voluntary 
separation incentive payments may be made only when statutorily 
authorized. Federal agencies and federal courts already have permanent 
statutory authority to offer buyouts, and there is no reason why the 
D.C. Courts and PDS, which are both exclusively federally funded, 
should not have this permanent statutory authority.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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