Federal law makes ATM robbery a serious federal crime.
S. 3798 — Safe Access to Cash Act of 2026 · Filed by Ted Cruz (R-TX) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 5, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill makes ATM robbery, theft, and violence at ATMs federal crimes. Robbery of ATM users or workers brings up to 20 years in prison. Stealing $1,000 or more from an ATM brings up to 10 years. Assault during an ATM crime brings up to 25 years. Killing during an ATM crime brings up to 30 years or life. The law covers all ATMs linked to financial networks. It applies whether ATMs are inside or outside a bank.
Who it affects
People who use ATMs and workers who service them are protected. Law enforcement can now prosecute ATM crimes in federal court. Previously these crimes were handled only by states and cities.
One thing to notice
Federal courts now have power over ATM crimes. The law covers all ATMs owned, run, or backed by banks, even those outside bank buildings.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Feb 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 5, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
- Mar 5, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Grassley with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
5 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $3,574,111 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 8 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 78% of bills with any report.
Ted Cruz, who sponsored the bill, received $531,115 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- American Bankers Association — $3,510,000 in 1 report
- Ncr Atleos — $30,000 in 1 report
- Ncr Atleos — $20,000 in 1 report
- The Sentencing Project — $14,111 in 1 report
- National Armored Car Association — $0 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- federal crime — A crime that breaks a U.S. law and is tried in federal court.
- ATM — A machine that lets people take out cash from their bank account.
- financial networks — Systems that connect banks and ATMs so money can move between them.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,632 characters) on Jul 9, 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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