WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, joined the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, bicameral legislation led by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07), to prohibit the use of the death penalty at the federal level and require re-sentencing of those currently on death row. The lawmakers’ bill is particularly important given that last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Trump announced that it was bringing back firing squads and seeking to return to the use of electrocution and lethal gas for executions.
“The federal death penalty reflects some of the deepest inequities in our criminal justice system—where the outcome too often depends on race, income, and access to adequate counsel,” said Senator Welch. “We can’t claim to deliver equal justice under the law while a punishment this irreversible is applied so unevenly and unjustly. As the Trump Administration moves to revive some of the cruelest forms of execution, Congress has a responsibility to end the federal death penalty for good.”
“The death penalty is not a punishment reserved for the worst of the worst; it is one reserved for the poorest of the poor. And it is a penalty disproportionately faced by Black Americans. It is far from clear that the death penalty even serves its primary purpose. There has yet to be any evidence conclusively demonstrating that the death penalty deters people from committing heinous crimes compared to the threat of life in prison.” said Senator Durbin. “I am grateful to Representative Pressley for her partnership and our colleagues who are joining us in this important effort. It is time to end this cruel and unusual punishment once and for all.”
“The death penalty is a racist, discriminatory, and deeply flawed punishment and must be abolished once and for all. But with states across the country in the midst of an unprecedented execution spree and Trump shamefully reviving federal firing squads, America is doubling down on state-sanctioned killing instead of ending it,” said Rep. Pressley. “Our bill would get the federal government out of the business of executing its own citizens, and save the lives of the people failed by our criminal legal system, including Black, brown, and low-income people. Congress must move with urgency to pass this bill and I’m grateful for Senator Durbin’s ongoing partnership.”
In July 2020, the first Trump Administration ended a 17-year hiatus on federal executions when it executed Daniel Lewis Lee, and followed that with six more executions between July 16, 2020, and September 24, 2020. After his defeat at the polls in the November 2020 election, President Trump and political appointees at DOJ ramped up the pace of executions during the lame duck period of his presidency.
On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” directing the Attorney General to pursue the death penalty wherever possible, and in February 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi officially lifted the Biden Administration’s moratorium on federal executions.
The Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2026 would end the use of the death penalty by the federal government. Specifically, the bill would prohibit the imposition of the death penalty as punishment for any violation of federal law and require the re-sentencing of those previously sentenced to death row.
Joining Senators Welch and Durbin on the legislation in the Senate are Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Along with Representative Pressley, the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is cosponsored by Reps. Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), Troy Carter Sr. (D-LA-02), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO-05), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), Maxwell Frost (D-FL-10), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), Henry “Hank” Johnson Jr. (D-GA-04), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Summer Lee (D-PA-12), Analilia Mejia (D-NJ-11), Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ-06), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12), Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24).
The Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is endorsed by 416 organizations. A full list of endorsing organizations can be found here.
Read and download the full text of the bill.
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