Federal public defenders have gone without pay since July

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( NewsNation ) — Federal public defenders have been working without pay since July, when funding for the program ran out.

That has left those representing federal defendants who don’t have resources to hire their own attorneys working without a paycheck and facing financial hardship.

One estimate shows that defenders working across the country are owed $150 million in pay.

Criminal lawyer David Fischer told NewsNation that federal funding for the last fiscal year ran out in July, and it is depriving clients of the right to counsel.

“We are having trouble hiring experts and investigators and doing the necessary work to