Austin News

U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Richard Blumenthal have introduced the American Victims of Terrorism Compensation Act. This legislation aims to strengthen the Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Act by providing financial compensation to Americans injured in acts of international state-sponsored terrorism and their families.

Senator Cornyn emphasized, “It’s unacceptable that many victims and their families are still without justice for the tremendous trauma they have experienced at the hands of terrorists.” He stated that the bipartisan legislation is intended to ensure these Americans receive compensation when terrorist defendants refuse to pay for their actions.

Senator Blumenthal added, “This measure will help ensure victims of state-sponsored terrorism are justly compensated.” He noted that the existing law needs updating as it has not met its goals, and this bill aims to provide victims with deserved compensation while establishing a mechanism to aid new victims.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer, Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff, and is led in the House by Congressmen Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer.

The original USVSST Act, enacted in 2015, allowed American victims holding court judgments against state sponsors of terrorism a way to recover on those judgments. However, since its inception, the fund created by this act has made few distributions due to various challenges including decreased enforcement actions by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The proposed act seeks to address these issues by providing an immediate distribution in 2025 and ensuring regular distributions in the future. It also establishes a sustainable mechanism for new victims to seek judgments against state sponsors of terrorism while ensuring existing claims are covered before funds are transferred.

This legislation has received endorsement from American victims affected by numerous terrorist attacks spanning several decades, including recent events such as the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel.