Chicago – May 22, 2026
Critics — including Democrats, some legal scholars, and even some Republicans — argue this amounts to using taxpayer money and presidential power to reward political loyalists, including people involved in January 6. Some have explicitly called it a “slush fund.”
There are efforts underway in Congress to stop federal money from being used to compensate people connected to the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
The main proposal is called the No Rewards for January 6 Rioters Act, introduced by Alex Padilla and Sheldon Whitehouse. The bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to compensate January 6 defendants and would block the Justice Department from creating settlement-based compensation funds for them.
This comes after the Trump administration announced a roughly $1.7–1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which critics say could financially benefit Trump allies and January 6 participants.
There are also:
- lawsuits filed by Capitol Police officers seeking to block the fund in court,
- criticism from some Republicans in the Senate, not just Democrats, over oversight and legality concerns.
However, as of now, the bill has not passed. Republicans blocked an attempt to fast-track it in the Senate this week.
