“While American families are getting flattened by skyrocketing costs, Donald Trump is trying to snatch up billions of taxpayer dollars to line his own pockets and settle personal scores. My bill will close the loopholes that enable this apparent corruption and ban Trump — and all future Presidents and Vice Presidents — from abusing their power and stealing Americans' hard-earned money.
Democrats Introduce Bill to Block Trump From Collecting Federal Settlements
April 15, 2026
On April 15, 2026, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Jamie Raskin, and Rep. Dave Min introduced the Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act (S.4299), a bill to bar the President, Vice President, and their immediate family members from collecting settlement payments from the federal government while in office. The bill was a direct response to Trump's $10 billion IRS lawsuit and a prior $230 million DOJ settlement demand — and anticipated the deal that would produce the $1.7B Anti-Weaponization Fund a month later. The bill has no path forward with Republicans controlling both chambers.
4 Statements
“It is such a blatant and obvious conflict for the President to be able to use the administration as his own personal ATM.
“Trump's systematic exploitation of Executive Branch power to loot billions of dollars from American taxpayers is the ongoing scandal of this ruthlessly corrupt Administration. The 'Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act' will prevent the president from pursuing the emerging MAGA grift of suing the government as a 'plaintiff' on bogus grounds and then settling the suit as 'defendant' for big bucks.
“Over the past 15 months, we have seen unprecedented corruption from this administration, but this new abuse of power of providing huge cash payments to 'settle' baseless lawsuits brought forward by Trump and his allies is a new low. The bill that Senator Warren, Leader Schumer, Ranking Member Raskin, and I are bringing forward would stop this backdoor bribery and bring some accountability back to the federal government.