# Plain Language Summary: Fairness for Khobar Act of 2025

This bill addresses a situation where victims of two terrorist bombings were unfairly prevented from receiving compensation they were entitled to. In 1983, a bombing at U.S. military barracks in Beirut killed and injured American service members and civilians. In 1996, another bombing at the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia killed 19 American service members and wounded many others. The U.S. government has a fund that compensates victims of state-sponsored terrorism, but some victims from these two attacks were told they couldn't apply for additional lump sum payments because they had already received regular ongoing payments from the fund. The Department of Justice had a rule saying you could only submit one application per claim, and if you were already getting regular payments, you weren't eligible for the larger lump sum catch-up payments.

The Fairness for Khobar Act fixes this problem by allowing these victims to receive the lump sum catch-up payments they should have been eligible for in the first place. The bill recognizes that victims followed the government's own guidance when they didn't apply for the additional payments, and it's unfair to penalize them for that. The bill gives victims multiple ways to prove they relied on the government's incorrect guidance—they can show written or verbal communications with the fund, provide a sworn statement, or use other evidence the fund administrator accepts.

The practical effect is that victims from the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and 1996 Khobar Towers bombing will be able to receive additional compensation they were previously denied. The government has 30 days after the bill becomes law to set up the process for these payments. The money will come from a reserve fund set aside for this purpose, or from the main terrorism victim compensation fund if the reserve isn't sufficient.

Fairness for Khobar Act of 2025

Sessions, Pete

Fairness for Khobar Act of 2025This bill authorizes lump sum catch-up payments from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund to certain victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996&nbsp;Khobar Towers bombing who did not apply for catch-up payments during the application period. The USVSST Fund is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provides compensation to certain U.S. persons injured in acts of international state sponsored terrorism and their immediate family members.The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act, enacted in 2022, authorized and provided funding for lump sum catch-up payments from the USVSST Fund to victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions from the USVSST Fund were also eligible for lump sum payments, but the act required them to apply from December 29, 2022, to June 27, 2023. In a 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office found that up to 274 eligible victims&nbsp;did not apply for lump sum catch-up payments because of DOJ guidance that stated, in part, that claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions are not eligible for the lump sum catch-up payments.