WASHINGTON – Congress gave final approval last week to a budget deal that offers some relief to the federal judiciary after last year’s budget cuts.

A bipartisan appropriations bill that passed both the House and the Senate will provide the federal courts an increase of $316 million in discretionary spending—or 5 percent above current funding—for the 2014 fiscal year, according to a summary of the 1,582-page bill from the Senate Appropriations Committee.