I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7643 
To set forth the policy of the United States regarding vandalism, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 16, 2020 
Mrs. LESKO (for herself, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. FULCHER, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 
HARRIS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. DAVIDSON 
of Ohio, Mr. ROY, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. YOHO, 
Mr. BUDD, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. STEUBE, and Mr. GUEST) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, and 
Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To set forth the policy of the United States regarding 
vandalism, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is as follows: 
(1) The first duty of government is to ensure 
domestic tranquility and defend the life, property, 
and rights of its citizens. Recently, there has been 
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a sustained assault on the life and property of civil-
ians, law enforcement officers, government property, 
and revered American monuments such as the Lin-
coln Memorial. Many of the rioters, arsonists, and 
extremists who have carried out and supported these 
acts have explicitly identified themselves with 
ideologies—such as Marxism—that call for the de-
struction of the United States system of govern-
ment. 
(2) Anarchists and extremists have sought to 
advance a fringe ideology that paints the United 
States of America as fundamentally unjust and have 
sought to impose that ideology on Americans 
through violence and mob intimidation. They have 
led riots in the streets, burned police vehicles, killed 
and assaulted government officers as well as busi-
ness owners defending their property, and even 
seized an area within one city where law and order 
gave way to anarchy. During the unrest, innocent 
citizens also have been harmed and killed. 
(3) These criminal acts are frequently planned 
and supported by agitators who have traveled across 
State lines to promote their own violent agenda. 
These radicals shamelessly attack the legitimacy of 
our institutions and the very rule of law itself. 
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(4) Key targets in the violent extremists’ cam-
paign against our country are public monuments, 
memorials, and statues. Their selection of targets re-
veals a deep ignorance of our history, and is indic-
ative of a desire to indiscriminately destroy anything 
that honors our past and to erase from the public 
mind any suggestion that our past may be worth 
honoring, 
cherishing, 
remembering, 
or 
under-
standing. For example, vandals toppled a statue of 
President Ulysses S. Grant in San Francisco. To 
them, it made no difference that President Grant led 
the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in 
the Civil War, enforced Reconstruction, fought the 
Ku Klux Klan, and advocated for the Fifteenth 
Amendment, which guaranteed freed slaves the right 
to vote. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the names of 
507 veterans memorialized on a World War II 
monument were painted over with a symbol of com-
munism. In Boston, a memorial commemorating an 
African-American regiment that fought in the Civil 
War was defaced with graffiti. In Madison, Wis-
consin, rioters knocked over the statue of an aboli-
tionist immigrant who fought for the Union during 
the Civil War. Christian figures are now in the 
crosshairs, too. Recently, an influential activist for 
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one movement that has been prominent in setting 
the agenda for demonstrations in recent weeks de-
clared that many existing religious depictions of 
Jesus and the Holy Family should be purged from 
our places of worship. 
(5) Individuals and organizations have the right 
to peacefully advocate for either the removal or the 
construction of any monument. But no individual or 
group has the right to damage, deface, or remove 
any monument by use of force. 
(6) In the midst of these attacks, many State 
and local governments appear to have lost the ability 
to distinguish between the lawful exercise of rights 
to free speech and assembly and unvarnished van-
dalism. They have surrendered to mob rule, imper-
iling community safety, allowing for the wholesale 
violation of our laws, and privileging the violent im-
pulses of the mob over the rights of law-abiding citi-
zens. Worse, they apparently have lost the will or 
the desire to stand up to the radical fringe and de-
fend the fundamental truth that America is good, 
her people are virtuous, and that justice prevails in 
this country to a far greater extent than anywhere 
else in the world. Some particularly misguided public 
officials even appear to have accepted the idea that 
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violence can be virtuous and have prevented their 
police from enforcing the law and protecting public 
monuments, memorials, and statues from the mob’s 
ropes and graffiti. 
SEC. 2. POLICY. 
(a) It is the policy of the United States to prosecute 
to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as 
appropriate, any person or any entity that destroys, dam-
ages, vandalizes, or desecrates a monument, memorial, or 
statue within the United States or otherwise vandalizes 
government property. The desire of the Congress to pro-
tect Federal property is clearly reflected in section 1361 
of title 18, United States Code, which authorizes a penalty 
of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for the willful injury of 
Federal property. More recently, under the Veterans’ Me-
morial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003, section 
1369 of title 18, United States Code, the Congress pun-
ished with the same penalties the destruction of Federal 
and in some cases State-maintained monuments that 
honor military veterans. Other criminal statutes, such as 
the Travel Act, section 1952 of title 18, United States 
Code, permit prosecutions of arson damaging monuments, 
memorials, and statues on State grounds in some cases. 
Civil statutes like the Public System Resource Protection 
Act, section 100722 of title 54, United States Code, also 
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hold those who destroy certain Federal property account-
able for their offenses. The Federal Government will not 
tolerate violations of these and other laws. 
(b) It is the policy of the United States to prosecute 
to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as 
appropriate, any person or any entity that participates in 
efforts to incite violence or other illegal activity in connec-
tion with the riots and acts of vandalism described in sec-
tion 1. Numerous Federal laws, including section 2101 of 
title 18, United States Code, prohibit the violence that has 
typified the past few weeks in some cities. Other statutes 
punish those who participate in or assist the agitators who 
have coordinated these lawless acts. Such laws include sec-
tion 371 of title 18, United States Code, which criminal-
izes certain conspiracies to violate Federal law, section 2 
of title 18, United States Code, which punishes those who 
aid or abet the commission of Federal crimes, and section 
2339A of title 18, United States Code, which prohibits 
as material support to terrorism efforts to support a de-
fined set of Federal crimes. Those who have joined in re-
cent violent acts around the United States will be held 
accountable. 
(c) It is the policy of the United States to prosecute 
to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as 
appropriate, any person or any entity that damages, de-
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faces, or destroys religious property, including by attack-
ing, removing, or defacing depictions of Jesus or other re-
ligious figures or religious art work. Federal laws prohibit, 
under certain circumstances, damage or defacement of re-
ligious property, including the Church Arson Prevention 
Act of 1996, section 247 of title 18, United States Code, 
and section 371 of title 18, United States Code. The Fed-
eral Government will not tolerate violations of these laws 
designed to protect the free exercise of religion. 
(d) It is the policy of the United States, as appro-
priate and consistent with applicable law, to withhold Fed-
eral support tied to public spaces from State and local gov-
ernments that have failed to protect public monuments, 
memorials, and statues from destruction or vandalism. 
These jurisdictions’ recent abandonment of their law en-
forcement responsibilities with respect to public monu-
ments, memorials, and statues casts doubt on their will-
ingness to protect other public spaces and maintain the 
peace within them. These jurisdictions are not appropriate 
candidates for limited Federal funds that support public 
spaces. 
(e) It is the policy of the United States, as appro-
priate and consistent with applicable law, to withhold Fed-
eral support from State and local law enforcement agen-
cies that have failed to protect public monuments, memo-
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rials, and statues from destruction or vandalism. Unwill-
ingness to enforce State and local laws in the face of at-
tacks on our history, whether because of sympathy for the 
extremists behind this violence or some other improper 
reason, casts doubt on the management of these law en-
forcement agencies. These law enforcement agencies are 
not appropriate candidates for limited Federal funds that 
support State and local police. 
SEC. 3. ENFORCING LAWS PROHIBITING THE DESECRA-
TION OF PUBLIC MONUMENTS, THE VAN-
DALISM OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, AND 
RECENT ACTS OF VIOLENCE. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
prioritize within the Department of Justice the investiga-
tion and prosecution of matters described in subsections 
(a), (b), and (c) of section 2. The Attorney General shall 
take all appropriate enforcement action against individuals 
and organizations found to have violated Federal law 
through these investigations. 
(b) COORDINATION
WITH
STATES
AND
LOCAL-
ITIES.—The Attorney General shall, as appropriate and 
consistent with applicable law, work with State and local 
law enforcement authorities and Federal agencies to en-
sure the Federal Government appropriately provides infor-
mation and assistance to State and local law enforcement 
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authorities in connection with their investigations or pros-
ecutions for the desecration of monuments, memorials, 
and statues, regardless of whether such structures are sit-
uated on Federal property. 
SEC. 4. LIMITING FEDERAL GRANTS FOR JURISDICTIONS 
AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES THAT 
PERMIT THE DESECRATION OF MONUMENTS, 
MEMORIALS, OR STATUES. 
The heads of all executive departments and agencies 
shall examine their respective grant programs and apply 
the policies established by subsections (d) and (e) of sec-
tion 2 to all such programs to the extent that such applica-
tion is both appropriate and consistent with applicable 
law. 
SEC. 5. PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR THE PROTECTION OF 
FEDERAL MONUMENTS, MEMORIALS, STAT-
UES, AND PROPERTY. 
Upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Administrator of 
General Services, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney 
General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
provide, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, 
personnel to assist with the protection of Federal monu-
ments, memorials, statues, or property. This section shall 
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terminate 6 months from the date of this Act unless ex-
tended by Congress. 
SEC. 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
(a) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect— 
(1) the authority granted by law to an executive 
department or agency, or the head thereof; or 
(2) the functions of the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 
administrative, or legislative proposals. 
(b) CONSISTENCY WITH EXISTING LAW.—This Act 
shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 
subject to the availability of appropriations. 
(c) NO RIGHTS CREATED.—This Act is not intended 
to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive 
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 
against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other 
person. 
(d) PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION.—This Act is not 
intended to, and does not, affect the prosecutorial discre-
tion of the Department of Justice with respect to indi-
vidual cases. 
Æ 
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