Fitzpatrick, Suozzi bill would block federal money for DOJ claim fund
Fitzpatrick and Suozzi moved to stop federal dollars from backing a $1.776 billion DOJ claim fund that both parties now see as legally and politically risky.
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi moved to put a brake on a new Justice Department compensation pool, signaling that the loudest pushback is coming from both parties, not just one side of the aisle. Their bill, the Bipartisan Transparency for American Taxpayers Act, would bar federal money, including funds appropriated under Section 1304 of Title 31, from being used to pay claims submitted to the department’s Anti-Weaponization Fund.
The Justice Department announced the fund on May 18, 2026, as part of a settlement resolving President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Under that deal, the department said Treasury would direct $1.776 billion into an account for the fund’s sole use. DOJ described the program as a systematic process to hear and redress claims from Americans who say they suffered weaponization or lawfare.
The settlement also drew attention for what it gave the Trump-side plaintiffs and what it did not. Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization were named in the case, and coverage said they would receive formal apologies but no direct monetary damages. That combination, a large federal account on one side and no cash award on the other, helped fuel the backlash now building in Washington.
Fitzpatrick’s office said the new bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to pay claims submitted to the DOJ fund. The proposal lands amid broader concern that the department may be creating a compensation system through settlement language that Congress never separately authorized, with lawmakers questioning how far executive branch discretion can stretch before it becomes a taxpayer liability.
The legal concerns are not confined to the House. Senate Republicans were also weighing restrictions on the fund, according to coverage, as the Justice Department’s new structure faces scrutiny for lacking the kinds of safeguards typically seen in compensation programs tied to litigation settlements or explicit congressional mandates. Legal experts have called the program unusual, adding to the sense that the White House and DOJ have opened a new and politically volatile front.
The fund could also invite claims from Trump allies and supporters who say they were wrongly investigated under the Biden administration, including people connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and other Trump-world figures. That possibility has sharpened the sense on Capitol Hill that the issue is less about one lawsuit than about who gets to decide when the federal government pays for alleged abuse, and under what rules.
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