The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill will provide a larger budget for the Justice Department to prosecute January 6 prisoners, a House Appropriations Committee summary revealed Tuesday.
If the bill passes in the next few days, the DOJ’s budget “to further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases” will increase $212.1 million from current levels of the $2.63 billion annual budget.
The DOJ had previously asked Congress for only $34 million in its 2023 budget to fund 130 employees to investigate the 80 January 6 prisoners. Instead, the budget was expanded to $212.1 million.
Protesters stand on the East steps of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
“The cases are unprecedented in scale and [it] is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” the DOJ previously told Congress, claiming the funding was “necessary for the continued prosecutions of the growing number of cases related to this breach of the U.S. Capitol that has left the Department with an immense task of finding and charging those responsible for the attacks.”
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Attorney General Merrick Garland told NBC News’ Lester Holt in July the department did not necessarily need more funds to prosecute the prisoners but would take the additional means if provided.
Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington, August 2, 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
“Of course, we’d like more resources, and if Congress wants to give that to us, that would be very nice,” Garland said. “But we have people — prosecutors and agents — from all over the country working on this matter.”
The increased budget to prosecute the January 6 prisoners comes just before Republicans are set to retake the House in January. Many establishment Republicans and Democrats have tried to get the omnibus deal done before the 118th Congress gavels into session for fear of not being able to enact initiatives that would not pass the Republican controlled House.
The DOJ is not the only agency getting a boost in funding in connection with the January 6 riot.
House Appropriations Committee’s summary also revealed the FBI, the agency that worked with Twitter to censor conservatives on the platform, will receive “an increase of $569.6 million above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level and $524 million above the President’s budget request, including for efforts to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism.”
If the omnibus bill is passed, the FBI’s total budget would be $11.33 billion.
The FBI has arrested nearly 900 people in relation to the January 6 riot, according to NBC News. The FBI has not arrested all those it wishes in connection with the incident, according to whistleblowers.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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