HR8685Referred to Committee

Protect the Presidency Act

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-05-07
Introduced
1
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Lance Gooden
Lance Gooden
Republican · TX · Representative
Votes with party: 97.0% (602 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/G000589

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (1)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

2026-05-07

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

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Plain-English Summary

The proposal would expand federal death penalty laws to allow capital punishment for people who attempt to assassinate the President, Vice President, or other high-ranking government officials, even if the assassination attempt fails. Currently, federal law allows the death penalty only for successful assassinations of these officials, not for failed attempts. This change would affect anyone prosecuted in federal court for attempting to kill these protected individuals.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Crime and Law Enforcement

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 8685 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8685 To amend section 1751 of title 18, United States Code, to include the death penalty as punishment for an attempt to assassinate certain individuals. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 7, 2026 Mr. Gooden (for himself and Mr. Steube) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend section 1751 of title 18, United States Code, to include the death penalty as punishment for an attempt to assassinate certain individuals. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Protect the Presidency Act''. SEC. 2. PUNISHMENT FOR ASSASSINATION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS. Section 1751(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ``death or'' before ``imprisonment''. <all>
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