Michael LucianoMay 19th, 2026, 7:10 pm

The House Rules Committee shot down an amendment that would prevent President Donald Trump’s administration from doling out taxpayer money to people criminally charged in connection with the Capitol riot.

The Department of Justice announced on Monday the establishment of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who were supposedly unfairly targeted by the department. The fund is being created in exchange for Trump dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, where in 2019 and 2020, a contractor leaked the president’s tax returns. The $1.8 billion has not been appropriated by Congress, and critics worry that at least some of it will be paid to people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Indeed, a lawyer representing more than 400 Jan. 6 defendants has said his clients will seek payments.

During a Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) offered an amendment that would prevent people charged and convicted in connection with the Capitol riot from receiving money from the fund:

I move the committee add a new section to the rule providing immediate consideration of HR 7711, the No Rewards for January 6 Rioters Act, so this bill would prohibit the use of federal funds to compensate individuals who were prosecuted for their involvement in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Additionally, my motion would self-execute an amendment that would require the attorney general of the United States to disclose any payments made by the so-called anti-weaponization fund, which was created by the corrupt settlement agreement between Donald Trump and his own administration. This secret slush fund should be an outrage to every American, no matter your politics.

Shortly afterward, the Republican-controlled committee voted down the measure.

Later, an outraged McGovern took to social media.

“Republicans just voted AGAINST my amendment to stop Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund from bailing out the convicted felons who assaulted cops on January 6th,” he wrote. “You read that right. They blocked us from even debating the issue on the House floor. Beyond shameful.”

Watch above via the House Rules Committee.

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