Govwatch

Introduced

In Committee

3

Passed One Chamber

4

Passed Both

5

Signed into Law

Sponsor

Ayanna Pressley

Democrat · MA · Representative

Votes with party: 96.5% (545 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/P000617

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (21)

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.

2026-05-20

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

House Committee on the JudiciaryReferred To · 2026-05-20

Plain-English Summary

The federal government would no longer be allowed to impose the death penalty as punishment for any federal crime. This would affect how the justice system handles the most serious federal offenses, potentially changing sentences for defendants convicted of federal crimes that currently carry capital punishment. The change would apply to all future federal cases and potentially existing death sentences under federal law.

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.

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. 8940 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8940 To prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for any violation of Federal law, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 20, 2026 Ms. Pressley (for herself, Ms. Brown, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Mejia, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Simon, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Pallone, and Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for any violation of Federal law, and for other purposes. 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 ``Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act''. SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPOSITION OF DEATH SENTENCE. (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person may be sentenced to death or put to death on or after the date of enactment of this Act for any violation of Federal law. (b) Persons Sentenced Before Date of Enactment.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person sentenced to death before the date of enactment of this Act for any violation of Federal law shall be resentenced. <all>

Open clean-text view Read on Congress.gov →

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