Sponsors (8)
The bill gives DOJ explicit authority to pay monetary rewards to improve investigations and protect officers—potentially increasing public safety—while creating fiscal costs, civil‑liberty risks from incentivized tips, and possible diplomatic/jurisdictional complications.
Law enforcement officers and federal investigators: DOJ gets an explicit statutory authority to offer monetary rewards, improving investigators' ability to obtain tips that lead to arrests, convictions, or prevention of plots and thereby increasing officer protection.
Communities (urban and rural): Offering rewards may deter would‑be plotters and increase the likelihood that community members report threats, potentially improving local public safety.
Taxpayers: The DOJ may incur additional spending on reward payments without a specified cap or offset, increasing federal expenditures.
Individuals and communities: Reward incentives can encourage false, misleading, or unverified tips that lead to needless investigations or harm reputations if adequate safeguards and oversight aren't specified.
Law enforcement and diplomacy: Authorizing pursuit of arrests or convictions 'in any country' could raise diplomatic and jurisdictional complications, making some investigations slower or dependent on foreign partners.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the Attorney General to pay rewards for information about offers of bounties or payments to harm or kill U.S. law enforcement officers when that information leads to arrests, convictions, or prevention.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to authorize awards for the arrest or conviction of individuals that deliberately target law enforcement officials with acts of violence or intimidation, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 15, 2026 by Tim Moore · Last progress January 15, 2026
Creates a new federal reward authority allowing the Attorney General to pay rewards to people who provide information about offers of bounties or other payments to harm or kill U.S. law enforcement officers. Rewards may be paid when the information leads to arrest or conviction for making or conspiring to make such offers, or when it helps prevent or frustrate such acts. The bill also updates a table of chapters to reflect the change in statutory text.