Bill expands domestic terrorism to include property damage, lowering prosecution threshold
H.R. 8843 — FAFO Act · Filed by John McGuire (R-VA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced May 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the federal definition of domestic terrorism to include acts that damage property (not just endanger human life) and that obstruct law enforcement, first responders, or people seeking medical care. Currently, domestic terrorism requires acts dangerous to human life; this expands it to include significant property damage as a standalone trigger, potentially capturing protest-related vandalism, property destruction at demonstrations, or obstruction of emergency services.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a statutory amendment that broadens the federal definition of domestic terrorism to include property damage and obstruction of emergency services as standalone predicates, lowering the threshold for terrorism prosecution and enhancing penalties for conduct previously charged as standard crime.
What the text implies
- Property damage at protests, demonstrations, or civil unrest could now be prosecuted as federal terrorism rather than state property crimes, triggering mandatory minimums and terrorism sentencing enhancements.
- Obstruction of law enforcement or first responders becomes a terrorism predicate even absent property damage or human-life endangerment, potentially capturing interference with police during arrests or with paramedics at accident scenes.
- The definition does not require intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government (the traditional terrorism mens rea), only that acts damage property and obstruct emergency services—a lower culpability bar.
- Citizens charged under the expanded definition face federal prosecution, terrorism designation on records, and potential civil consequences (employment, housing, travel) beyond criminal penalties.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill lowers the threshold for federal terrorism prosecution by making property damage alone (without endangering human life) sufficient to trigger the definition, and by criminalizing obstruction of law enforcement or first responders. This expands the scope of conduct prosecutable as terrorism, potentially capturing protest-related vandalism, property destruction, or interference with emergency services that would otherwise be charged as standard crimes. Citizens face enhanced penalties, te
Named in the bill
18 USC § 2331(5)(A), law enforcement, first responders, domestic terrorism
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- May 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 15, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,140,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 147 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
John McGuire, the sponsor, reported $421,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Property Casualty Insurance Association — $2,140,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (614 characters) on Aug 29, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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