H.R. 9795: Never Forget the Victims of Terrorism: Joseph D. Mistrulli and Alan Kleinberg USVSST Fun… (119th Congress) Bill Summary

This bill would change how the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund is financed and paid out for three years, from fiscal years 2027 through 2029.

What the bill does

It requires the Secretary of the Treasury to loan $3 billion to the Fund each year for fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029.
The money must be deposited into the Fund within 30 days after the start of each fiscal year.
That borrowed money must be included in the Fund’s annual payment and distributed as part of that year’s payment to eligible recipients.
The borrowed money cannot be saved, held over, or used for any payment other than the required annual payment.
The loans would be available without needing additional appropriations from Congress.
The loans would earn interest at a rate set by the Treasury Secretary, based on comparable Treasury borrowing rates.
If the Fund later ends, the borrowed amounts plus interest would be repaid only from certain criminal and civil fines, penalties, and forfeitures tied to state sponsors of terrorism, if those amounts are later directed to the Treasury for repayment.
The borrowing authority would expire on September 30, 2029, although any money borrowed before then could still be spent later and would still have to be repaid under the bill’s rules.

Plain-language effect

In practical terms, the bill would give the victims’ compensation fund a guaranteed infusion of borrowed money each year for three years, so it can make its annual payments. The government would treat this as direct spending authority rather than as a new appropriation. The bill also sets up a repayment mechanism that depends on future fines and forfeitures connected to state sponsors of terrorism, rather than on general taxpayer funds.