 Hello, I'm Javier Hernandez reporting from Washington. A federal judge speaking for the judicial conference told Congress that the future vitality of the federal courts is being jeopardized by inadequate compensation for federal judges and judiciary executives. Testifying before a House subcommittee, U.S. district judge Brock Hornby used stark terms. We believe that the federal judiciary is at a crossroads. If the current situation is not checked, we believe that pay compression is going to threaten our ability to recruit and retain experienced professional judiciary employees as well as talented judges. Chief Judge Philip Proe testified that judicial employees are honored to be in federal service and make a daily contribution to our government process, and for that they deserve fair compensation. I know that members of Congress surely feel the same way, but so do our probation officers, so do our pretrial services officers, so do our clerks of court and deputy clerks of court. Judge Hornby said four factors point to the immediate need for increases in salaries of federal judges and judicial executives. Judicial salaries purchasing power has declined since 1993. Judicial pay is not keeping up with compensation in the private sector, even among not-for-profit organizations. No mechanism for periodic salary review is in place, and judicial salaries suffer from pay compression and pay inversion. Yes, when judges take the job, they know there's going to be the sacrifice, but they expect to be kept equal. They don't expect that they're going to fall behind. That fear of falling behind made it difficult to find a replacement bankruptcy judge earlier this year in Nevada. When the net was cast for applicants, I talked to a great many lawyers, members of the bankruptcy bar, excellent lawyers who told me that they would not seek the position even though they would love to do it because they couldn't afford that economic downturn that they would face. Judge Hornby feels that that perception among talented lawyers may have a negative impact on the judiciary. Do we want only people who are committed to public service on the one hand and only people who are independently wealthy on the other, or do we want to maintain our tradition of having a diverse judiciary of people from across the board? In their testimony, the judges pointed out that since 1993, compensation for federal judges has risen 23.7 percent. In contrast, compensation for general schedule employees has risen 57.5 percent. Reporting from Washington, I'm Javier Hernandez.