Follows Trump Administration’s Reinstatement of Firing Squads and Searching for Methods to Return to the Use Of Electrocution and Lethal Gas For Executions

Bill Text (PDF)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led 20 Representatives and 17 Senators in the reintroduction of the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, bicameral legislation to prohibit the use of the death penalty at the federal level and require re-sentencing of those currently on death row. This bill is particularly important today 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 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 Congresswoman 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.”

“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 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. The legislation was originally introduced by Durbin and Pressley in July 2019 following DOJ’s announcement under the first Trump Administration that it would resume the use of the death penalty.

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.

Along with Congresswoman Pressley, the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is cosponsored by Representatives 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), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24).

Along with Durbin, the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is cosponsored by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is endorsed by 416 organizations. A full list of endorsing organizations can be found here.

“With the executions in five states this week and last week, no other issue exemplifies the disintegration of the rule of law and a failure to protect the least among us like the death penalty in the United States in 2026,” said Abe Bonowitz, Director/Co-Founder of Death Penalty Action. “This is why now is exactly the right time for Congress to be called upon to fix what it can of this mess. Death Penalty Action is proud to stand with Representative Pressley yet again as she leads the effort to shine a spotlight upon the evils of capital punishment.”

Bill text is available here.

Since 2019, Congresswoman Pressley has introduced and championed the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, bicameral legislation with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to prohibit the use of the death penalty at the federal level and require re-sentencing of those currently on death row.

Congresswoman Pressley has also led calls for President Biden to use his clemency authority to address mass incarceration, commute federal death row, and reunite families. She applauded the President for granting pardons to 39 individuals and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 individuals on home confinement, and has encouraged him to continue using that authority. She also commended President Biden for commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on death row and re-sentencing them to life in prison.

Rep. Pressley has been an outspoken advocate for abolishing the federal death penalty and her Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act is informed by her People’s Justice Guarantee, a comprehensive, decarceration-focused resolution that outlines a framework for a fair, equitable and just legal system.

• In July 2019, Rep. Pressley and Senator Dick Durbin introduced bicameral legislation to prohibit the use of the death penalty at the federal level and require re-sentencing of those currently on death row. The legislation was reintroduced in 2021 and 2023.
• In December 2024, on Human Rights Day, Rep. Pressley and advocates renewed their calls for clemency and urged President Biden to commute the death sentences of the individuals on federal death row and resentence them to a prison term.
• In November 2024, Rep. Pressley and her colleagues wrote to President Biden urging him to use his clemency authority to address longstanding injustices in our legal system before taking office, including by granting clemency to those on death row.
• In January 2024, Rep. Pressley and Senator Durbin issued a statement on the Department of Justice’s decision to seek the execution of Payton Gendron, who committed the heinous, racially-motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022.
• In January 2023, Rep. Pressley and Senator Durbin submitted a comment letter in response to a Department of Justice (DOJ) Request for Information (RFI) regarding the regulations governing federal executions. 
• In March 2022, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the death penalty in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case, urging passage of the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, and calling on President Biden to take executive action to halt federal executions, commute the sentences of those on death row, and more.
• In December 2021, Rep. Pressley and Chair Raskin wrote to the Department of Justice requesting information about whether the DOJ plans to resume federal executions and procure pentobarbital sodium for use in such executions.
• In May 2021, Rep. Pressley announced that the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act now has the support of over 90 Members of Congress and 265 national and grassroots organizations across the country.
• In January 2021, Congresswoman Pressley and Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) led more than 35 of their House colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden calling on him to commute the sentences of every person on federal death row. 
• Later that month, Congresswoman Pressley and Reps. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Robin Kelly (IL-02) wrote to then-Attorney General-nominee Judge Merrick B. Garland urging him to prioritize President Biden’s commitment to working with Congress to end the federal death penalty and incentivizing states to end capital punishment across the country. 
• In December 2020, Congresswoman Pressley led 41 of her House colleagues and three Representatives-Elect on a letter calling on President-Elect Joe Biden to end the use of the federal death penalty on his first day in office.
• In November 2020, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Durbin, along with Senators Patrick Leahy and Cory Booker, wrote to Attorney General Bill Barr calling for a halt on all scheduled federal executions during the presidential transition period.

###