Congress accelerates terrorism victim payouts with $9B Treasury loan
H.R. 9795 — Never Forget the Victims of Terrorism: Joseph D. Mistrulli and Alan Kleinberg USVSST Fund Solvency Act · Filed by Laura Gillen (D-NY) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill authorizes the Treasury Department to loan $3 billion per year (2027–2029) to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, with those borrowed amounts mandatorily distributed to victims each year. The loans bear interest at Treasury rates and must be repaid from future criminal and civil fines collected from state sponsors of terrorism. The bill names the fund after two victims: Joseph D. Mistrulli and Alan Kleinberg.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a mandatory Treasury loan to accelerate payments to terrorism victims. The naming after two specific victims is commemorative but does not alter the bill's functional purpose—funding victim compensation.
What the text implies
- Repayment depends entirely on future fines from state sponsors of terrorism; if such fines do not materialize, the $9B loan becomes a permanent subsidy to the fund with no offsetting revenue.
- The bill treats borrowed amounts as 'direct spending authority' not subject to appropriations scoring, which may obscure the true fiscal impact in budget accounting.
- Naming the fund after two specific victims (Mistrulli and Kleinberg) may create pressure to prioritize their claims or estates over other victims, though the bill text does not explicitly do so.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Terrorism victims receive accelerated compensation ($9 billion over three years) that would otherwise be delayed or unavailable. The repayment mechanism (future fines from state sponsors) does not reduce other public services or impose costs on ordinary citizens; it is a deferred collection from foreign defendants.
Who stands to gain
- United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund beneficiaries (individual victims and their
Named in the bill
United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, Secretary of the Treasury, Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, Joseph D. Mistrulli, Alan Kleinberg
Where it stands
17 cosponsors: 10 Republicans, 7 Democrats.
- Jul 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 21, 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,189 characters) on Sep 5, 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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