The two bills would prohibit federal funds from supporting programs that release violent offenders without posting bail
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) introduced legislation Monday that seeks to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending cashless bail nationwide by barring federal funds from going to cities and states that release violent offenders back onto the street without posting bail.
The two bills, one targeting Washington, D.C., and the other applying to the rest of the nation, serve as companions to legislation Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) introduced in the Senate on Thursday.
“Today, Sen. Marsha Blackburn and I are working alongside President Trump to end the cashless bail disaster. We can’t allow arrested individuals who are awaiting trial to be released back onto the streets to commit more crimes against their communities,” Stefanik, who chairs House Republican Leadership, said in a statement.
Blackburn, in her own statement, said cashless bail has “empowered violent criminals across our country, putting the lives of law-abiding citizens at risk.”
“President Trump is leading the charge to restore law and order by ending these failed policies, and Congresswoman Stefanik and I are backing his efforts by introducing two bills to end cashless bail and keep violent offenders behind bars,” she added.
Suspects released on cashless bail frequently go on to commit additional crimes. A 2023 study from the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office in California found individuals released under cashless bail policies committed 163 percent more crimes—or 200 percent when looking just at violent crime—compared to those who posted bail. Last summer in Washington, D.C., for instance, a Jewish man was targeted and attacked by a suspect who less than a week earlier had been released on cashless bail one day after fighting with Capitol Police, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
In New York, which eliminated cash bail in 2019, Stefanik highlighted the case of a Guatemalan national who last month was released without bail despite facing four felony and two misdemeanor charges for allegedly selling drug-laced gummies that sent 12 high school students to the hospital.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s [D., N.Y.] failed leadership, cashless bail policies in New York pose a clear and present danger to the Nation and must be terminated,” Stefanik said.
Stefanik’s bills come two weeks after Trump issued executive orders to abolish cashless bail. Since taking control of Washington, D.C.’s police force in an effort to stamp out the city’s longstanding crime problems, Trump has urged Congress to toughen laws around cashless bail. The president has long opposed cashless bail policies, promising during his 2024 campaign to “crack down on left-wing jurisdictions that refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals and set loose violent felons on cashless bail.”
