Sponsors (2)
The bill trims government payouts and curbs fee-driven litigation and agency-driven settlements—reducing taxpayer costs and discouraging abusive suits—at the cost of weaker fee recovery for many prevailing plaintiffs, reduced access to counsel for vulnerable litigants, and increased litigation and discretion-related risks for agencies and stakeholders.
Taxpayers and federal agencies will likely pay less in private parties' attorneys' fees and settlement-related payouts because the bill caps fee awards, limits repeat recoveries, and restricts fee payments tied to agency guidance or new regulations.
Courts will have clearer authority to deny or reduce fee awards for parties who acted in bad faith or obstructively, discouraging frivolous or abusive litigation tactics.
Small businesses and other commercial parties face reduced risk of repeat-fee-driven suits because limits on repeat fee awards and per‑case caps lower the incentives for serial challenges that profit from fee recovery.
People who win meritorious cases—particularly disabled claimants, veterans, and low-income beneficiaries—may receive substantially reduced fee awards, harming access to counsel in complex benefit and administrative cases.
Lower fee recoveries and stricter reduction standards will likely deter private attorneys from taking low‑fee or contingency cases, shrinking representation options for low‑income and uninsured individuals.
Agencies, regulated parties, and taxpayers could face more litigation and longer, costlier disputes because parties may be less willing to settle and agencies may be constrained in using guidance or negotiated agreements to resolve issues.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Caps EAJA fee awards at $200,000 and limits frequency of awards, bans fee payments in settlements that produce agency rules/guidance, and requires a panel to study effects on federal lands.
Limits recoverable attorneys’ fees and related litigation costs in agency adversary adjudications and federal civil suits by imposing per-case and per-year caps and new grounds to reduce or deny awards; bars settlement agreements or consent decrees that create regulations or guidance from including payments of attorneys’ fees or costs; and requires an independent five-member scientific panel to study how these changes affect the ecological, social, and economic sustainability of federally managed forests and rangelands, to report to relevant congressional committees within five years.
Official title: To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for certain rules relating to the payment of attorney's fees.
Introduced June 30, 2026 by Thomas P. TIFFANY · Last progress June 30, 2026