Summary#
This bill requires the Treasury to loan $3 billion a year to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund in each of fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029. The loans must be deposited into the Fund within 30 days of each fiscal year start and must be included in that year’s required annual payment from the Fund. The loans bear interest and must be repaid, after the Fund ends, from criminal or civil fines, penalties, and forfeitures tied to a state sponsor of terrorism that are later directed to the Treasury.
- Main change: Mandatory Treasury loans of $3 billion per year to the victims’ fund for FY2027–FY2029, with those loans counted as part of the Fund’s annual payment and subject to later repayment from specific fines and forfeitures.
- Budget treatment: The loans are treated as direct spending authority and are specified not to be scored as new appropriations.
- Timing: Loans must be deposited within 30 days after each fiscal year begins. The temporary authority to make these loans expires on September 30, 2029; amounts already borrowed remain available until spent.
- Repayment rule: Repayment (principal and interest) is limited to certain future fines, penalties, and forfeitures involving state sponsors of terrorism and only after the Fund terminates.
- Restriction on use: Borrowed amounts must be distributed as part of the annual payment and cannot be carried forward or held for other payments.
What it means for you#
- Victims of state-sponsored terrorism / claimants: The Fund would receive up to $9 billion over three years to support payments. This could mean more funds are available sooner for distributing awards or settlements that the Fund is required to pay.
- Justice Department / Fund administrators: They must include the borrowed amounts in the annual payment and distribute them that year. They cannot reserve those borrowed funds for other uses or future years.
- Treasury / federal government: The Treasury must provide the loans and set an interest rate based on comparable Treasury yields. The loans increase Federal outlays that are labeled as direct spending authority.
- Taxpayers / federal budget watchers: The bill creates a flow of federal loans and interest obligations. Repayment depends on future fines tied to state sponsors of terrorism, which may or may not materialize.
- Parties paying fines/forfeitures in future cases involving state sponsors of terrorism: If such fines/forfeitures are later directed to the Treasury after the Fund ends, they would be used to repay these loans and interest.
Expenses#
No public fiscal estimate or cost breakdown is included with the bill text.
- The bill requires Treasury loans of $3,000,000,000 in each of FY2027, FY2028, and FY2029 (totaling $9,000,000,000 in loans).
- Loans will bear interest at a Treasury-determined rate tied to market yields on similar-maturity Treasury obligations.
- The bill says these amounts are “available without further appropriation” and are to be treated as direct spending authority; it also states they “shall not be scored as new appropriations.”
- Repayment source is limited to criminal and civil fines, penalties, and forfeitures involving a state sponsor of terrorism that are later directed to the Treasury and only after the Fund terminates.
- Other costs (administration, enforcement, or effects on deficits) are not provided in the bill text.
Proponents' View#
- The bill appears intended to keep the victims’ fund supplied with cash so required annual payments can be made on schedule in 2027–2029.
- Supporters may argue that mandatory loans provide predictable, near-term funding for victims who are owed awards or settlements.
- Requiring repayment from fines and forfeitures tied to state sponsors of terrorism could be presented as a way to link repayment to the wrongdoers, rather than general tax revenue.
- The sunset provision limits the temporary borrowing authority to a defined period (through 2029).
Opponents' View#
- One concern is that repayment depends on future criminal or civil fines and forfeitures tied to state sponsors of terrorism, which are uncertain and may never cover the loans and interest.
- The bill treats these loans as direct spending authority and says they should not be scored as new appropriations; this could obscure the budgetary impact or affect how costs appear in budget documents.
- It is unclear how the interest rate will be set in practice and how much interest costs will add to the total obligation.
- The bill does not explain what happens if insufficient fines/forfeitures are collected after the Fund ends, or how repayment timing would work in that case.
- The text does not include a fiscal note, so the full effect on deficits, borrowing, or other federal programs is not stated.
What is unclear:
- Whether or how these loans will change the timing or size of individual payments to victims in practice.
- The likelihood and timing of the specific fines and forfeitures that would be used for repayment.
- Any administrative or implementation costs for the Justice Department or Treasury beyond the loan amounts themselves.