WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today introduced the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act to ensure that when the federal government settles a lawsuit, settlement funds will go only to the victims, injured parties in the dispute, or the Treasury.
“It should be alarming to every tax-paying citizen that the government could turn federal settlement funds into fuel for activist groups that exert power and influence over Washington,” said Sen. Tuberville. “When the federal government settles a case, the settlement dollars should go to the victims or the Treasury – period. Unelected bureaucrats should not have the ability to direct settlement funds to progressive organizations under the guise of ‘donations,’ especially when these groups could turn right around and use that money to put pressure on members of Congress to vote with their agenda. This weaponizes settlement funds to push progressive policy agendas that Alabamians don’t want. It’s the swamp at its worst.”
Senator Tuberville’s bill, the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act, would prohibit settling parties in a federal dispute from reducing their punishments by making “donations” to outside organizations. This bill would end the executive overreach of picking special interest groups to benefit from a settlement. For example, under President Obama’s Department of Justice, settling parties were forced to pay a portion of their settlement obligations, under the guise of “donations,” to outside groups of the Department’s choosing that overwhelmingly pushed a partisan agenda. This practice turned federal settlements into liberal slush funds. This practice was halted under President Trump’s Department of Justice, but without legislative action, the Biden Administration could, once again, allow this practice to continue in order to bolster their progressive policy agenda.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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