Spending bill would boost court security, public defenders
WASHINGTON — A compromise fiscal 2026 funding bill released Sunday would provide major increases for federal public defenders as well as a court security account, matching requests from the judiciary in those two areas.
Federal public defenders would see a nearly 22% increase in funding under the bill, a proposed figure that comes amid long-running concerns about financial strains imposed on the offices.
And the bill would provide $892 million for the judiciary’s court security account for fiscal 2026, an increase of $142 million compared to fiscal 2025 that the judiciary had asked for in its request.
The judiciary said in its request that the extra money would go toward security system maintenance and repair, courthouse hardening and security infrastructure for new courthouses, among other equipment.
The increase would come as judiciary officials have raised serious concerns about threats facing federal judges, and high-profile acts of political violence have stoked broader security fears in various parts of government.
If passed, the spending bill would match the judiciary’s request of $1.77 billion for federal defenders, a $315 million increase compared to fiscal 2025. Last year, the judiciary urged Congress to increase funding for defender offices, which are tasked with representing poor defendants.
The judiciary last year underscored the funding challenges they faced while operating under a previous continuing resolution imposed by Congress, saying federal defenders had been subjected to a hiring freeze and payments were suspended to private sector attorneys who provide legal representation to poor defendants when federal defenders are not able to.
Payments were delayed, the judiciary said, because the program that pays for those attorneys had run out of money.
A summary from Senate Democrats touted the increased funding for federal defenders in the bill, saying it would provide funding for the Criminal Justice Act panel attorneys that make up a sizable part of the federal defender workforce.
“Fully funding defender services will help ensure defendants across the country will be represented by paid, effective counsel — protecting their Sixth Amendment rights,” the summary said.
Last year, the federal court system outlined plans to spend $35 million less from its court security account in fiscal 2026 than it did the previous year unless Congress provided additional funding.
Overall, the fiscal 2026 bill includes $9.2 billion for U.S. court system operations, an increase of $556 million from fiscal 2025, according to an explanatory statement released with the bill.
The measure is part of a two-bill spending package that also includes National Security-State appropriations for fiscal 2026. Congressional leaders are racing to complete fiscal 2026 appropriations before the Jan. 30 deadline, when current stopgap funding expires.