HR788-118

Reported

To limit donations made pursuant to settlement agreements to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Feb 2, 2023

Legislative Progress

Reported
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 9, 2024

Additional sponsors: Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Fry, and Mr. Bishop of …

Jan 9, 2024

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …

Feb 2, 2023

Mr. Gooden of Texas (for himself, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Tiffany, …

Summary

What This Bill Does

Bans government officials from entering settlement agreements directing payments to organizations other than the U.S. unless for direct victim restitution or case-related services.

Who Benefits and How

  • Taxpayers ensure settlement funds go to Treasury or victims
  • Government accountability prevents slush fund payments
  • Transparency improved through settlement reporting

Who Bears the Burden and How

  • Third-party organizations lose settlement payment access
  • DOJ and agencies face restrictions on settlement terms
  • Violating officials face penalties under 31 USC 3302

Key Provisions

  • Payments only for direct victim restitution or services
  • Penalties for officials entering prohibited settlements
  • Annual reporting on qualifying settlement payments
  • Applies to settlements after enactment
Model: claude-opus-4
Generated: Jan 10, 2026 17:39

Evidence Chain:

This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

Primary Purpose

Prohibits federal settlement agreements that direct payments to third-party organizations

Policy Domains

Government Accountability Civil Litigation Justice

Legislative Strategy

"End practice of directing settlement funds to advocacy organizations"

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Government Accountability Justice

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

1 term
"settlement agreement" §2

Agreement resolving civil action or potential civil action

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology