Last week, lawmakers on Capitol Hill announced a breakthrough in budget negotiations that could eventually soften the pain of steep cuts to federal judiciary funding. But the word from the budget staff at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts: It’s too early to tell.
Congress would first have to pass the bipartisan budget agreement, which aims to avoid another government shutdown and reign in the across-the-government spending cuts known as sequestration. House and Senate subcommittees then must decide whether their priorities under that spending level would include restoring all or part of last year’s $350 million cut to the federal judiciary budget.
