The Justice Department is running out of money thanks to the overabundance of defendants who are being prosecuted for attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6.
According to NBC News, the Justice Department has asked for $34 million in "critically needed" funds to handle the thousands of rioters facing charges, court fees and more. According to those inside the DOJ, the caseload for prosecutors has doubled in the past year due to the arrest of more than 870 accused insurrectionists so far.
As an official explained it, "We don’t have the manpower."
It's also not clear whether the Justice Department will be able to get the funds necessary from Congress in the budget. With mere weeks ahead of an election, Congress is focused on keeping their jobs rather than doing their jobs. It's thought that the House will flip to Republicans, and already the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, is threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
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“There are lots of requests,” House Appropriations NBC cited Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). “We’re taking a look at all of them and seeing what makes it and seeing what doesn’t make it.”
"While a new crop of assistant U.S. attorneys filling temporary roles could help pick up the pace of arrests in the coming months, the long-term trajectory of the criminal probe depends in part on the fiscal year 2023 budget, which Congress is planning to pass in December, around the time the Jan. 6 committee is expected to issue its final report," said NBC News.
According to the request from the DOJ: “The cases are unprecedented in scale and is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice."
If they don't get the money, they said that it could have a "detrimental impact" on U.S. Attorney's Offices around the U.S., which are funded by the DOJ. The department would have to make cuts to handle the prosecutions, which keeps vacancies back home.
Funding negotiations are expected to restart after the Nov. 8 election and they have until Dec. 16 to make it happen.
