House

Raskin introduces bill to block Trump’s $1.776B after GOP shoots down effort to subpoena Blanche

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by Rebecca Beitsch - 05/20/26 3:37 PM ET

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by Rebecca Beitsch - 05/20/26 3:37 PM ET

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill Wednesday to bar the Justice Department’s (DOJ) new $1.776 billion compensation fund to be used for payouts to those who claim to have faced weaponization at the hands of the government.

The “No Taxpayer-Funded 5 Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2026” would bar the use of any federal funds to back the settlement and would also create new restrictions on payouts generally, including barring anyone convicted of rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6 from receiving funds.

The DOJ created the fund after the Trump administration agreed to voluntarily drop a lawsuit from Trump seeking $10 billion in damages over the leaking of his tax returns. In doing so they sidestepped a judge who had questioned whether the president and administration he runs were truly adversaries as required for bringing such suits.

Then on Tuesday the department released a memo barring the IRS from auditing or pursuing charges against President Trump related to his past tax returns.

“Trump is trying to commandeer nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds to bankroll a slush fund for January 6 cop-beaters and aggrieved MAGA foot soldiers,” Raskin said in a statement. “This massive abuse of public money also has glaring constitutional defects: only Congress has the power to appropriate federal dollars, and we didn’t appropriate a cent for the J6 millionaire trust fund. That’s why I’m introducing the No Taxpayer-Funded Settlement Slush Funds Act to shut down this highway robbery and restore basic guardrails on how taxpayer dollars are spent.”

“Congress must reassert the power of the purse and stop this brazen looting of taxpayer funds before this ‘pilot program’ for massive partisan corruption becomes the permanent operating system of our government,” the Maryland Democrat added.

While the bill would specifically block the new $1.776 settlement, it would also generally bar future settlements tied to cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol or disputes over the 2016 presidential election.

It also specifically blocks the president, vice president, and cabinet members from receiving money in any litigation over those matters.

Raskin may actually get some support from within the GOP for his bill.

“Bad news,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said when asked about the “anti-weaponization” fund. “We’re gonna try to kill it.”

“We’re considering legislative options. We’re gonna write a letter to the [attorney general] to start, but we’re considering a legislative option,” he added. “We’re trying to unpack exactly, you know, what the legal machinations are, but you can’t do that.”

Raskin’s legislation also requires DOJ to disclose settlements it negotiates that are over $100,000 and also gives Congress the ability to recall funds for any settlements over $250,000.

The lawmaker on Wednesday also moved to subpoena Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Frank Bisignano, among others, during an unrelated House Judiciary hearing.

That effort failed in an 18-17 vote, but Democrats were able to get the backing of Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.), who switched his party affiliation to leave the GOP shortly after the redistricting of his California district.

“The Trump administration is perpetuating a fraud against America by taking nearly $1.8 billion of our money from the U.S. judgment fund for the payment of actual court judgments and damages, and without any legal authorization from Congress purporting to use it to pay off his once and future private militia,” Raskin said, noting that many convicted of offense related to the Jan. 6 riots are expected to tap the funds.

The bill was filed the same day he launched an investigation into the $1.776 billion fund, sending a letter to those he tried to subpoena demanding more information about both the fund and the DOJ memo that “forever barred and precluded” the IRS from pursuing certain claims against Trump, his family, and their businesses.

That letter asks a series of questions about the structure of the fund.

“Will recipients’ fund amounts be reported to the IRS? Will the quarterly reports to the Attorney General outlining who has received relief and in what form be made public?” Raskin asked. “Is there a cap on the amount a single recipient may receive from the Fund?”

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