Sponsors (8)
The bill gives DOJ a flexible rewards tool that can boost tips, protect officers, and aid transnational investigations, but it risks added taxpayer costs, incentivizing false leads that can harm innocents, and creating diplomatic complications.
Residents of urban and rural communities and crime victims: DOJ may offer rewards that increase tips leading to prevented crimes or solved cases, improving public safety for communities.
Law enforcement officers: DOJ can offer rewards that incentivize information preventing attacks or facilitating arrests, increasing protection for officers.
Federal investigators and national security efforts: Expanding DOJ's reward authority gives prosecutors an additional investigatory tool to pursue transnational perpetrators and encourage overseas cooperation or leads.
Innocent people and investigative agencies: Reward payments can incentivize false or misleading tips, diverting resources and risking harm or wrongful suspicion of innocent individuals.
Taxpayers: Allowing DOJ to pay rewards without a specified cap or offset could increase government spending and impose additional costs on taxpayers.
U.S. diplomatic relationships and federal operations: Using reward authority to pursue investigations or arrests abroad could create diplomatic or legal complications that complicate transnational law enforcement efforts.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the Attorney General to pay rewards for information that leads to arrest/conviction or prevention of acts where bounties were offered to harm or kill U.S. law enforcement officers.
Introduced January 15, 2026 by Tim Moore · Last progress January 15, 2026
Authorizes the Attorney General to pay monetary rewards to people who provide information that helps arrest or convict, anywhere in the world, anyone who offered a bounty or other payment to harm or kill a U.S. law enforcement officer, who conspired or attempted to do so, or whose actions were prevented or stopped because of the information. Also updates a chapter heading in Title 18 to reflect the change.