Conservative free market groups are raising concerns that a GOP provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will cut off a key mechanism used to fund lawsuits against “woke” corporations and others, including Planned Parenthood.
Initially proposed as a way to limit frivolous lawsuits, conservatives charge that the provision will instead protect corporate America from “little guy” suits.
At issue is the inclusion of the “Tackling Predatory Litigation Funding Act,” offered in the Senate version of the reconciliation bill by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and in the House by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK).
Senator Thom Tillis just slipped a massive gift to Big Pharma, Big Tech, and woke corporations into the “Big Beautiful Bill.” His anti-litigation finance plan (S.1821) slaps a 41% tax on the very tool that helps ordinary Americans fight back in court.
This bill protects elites… pic.twitter.com/0x11EXHAD0
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 24, 2025
Tillis said the goal was to stop predatory suits by hitting third-party funding of court actions, for which the funders get a piece of any settlement. Both Hern and Tillis warned that “foreign entities” are often the funders.
But in letters provided to Washington Secrets, a coalition led by Tea Party Patriots and a Gold Star family said that without the financial help, they couldn’t afford to sue.
In its letter to the Senate Finance Committee working on the bill, Tea Party Patriots Action and many of its allies said the proposal would kill third-party lawsuit help by imposing a 41% tax on litigation funding.
“Despite what its supporters claim, if this bill were to become law, it would help Goliath and hurt David,” the letter reads. It added that the plan would be cheered by Big Pharma, Big Tech, and the Chamber of Commerce.
“The American legal system is designed to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to defend their rights in court,” the letter reads. “But that only works if they can get into court. With the cost of litigation high and constantly growing, creative funding solutions have become the only way everyday people can afford to seek justice against large corporations.”
In another, a Gold Star family warned that its bid to sue terrorist nations would have to stop without outside funding.
“While undoubtedly well intended, we are concerned that this language could result in significant unintended consequences, especially for us and future American victims of terrorism,” the letter reads.
“If enacted, it would roughly double the tax imposed on all third-party litigation funders, thereby making it more difficult for victims like us to finance the costs of litigation to obtain compensation and hold foreign terrorists and their enablers accountable,” it continues. “This litigation is expensive, and most terrorism victims lack the ability to pay lawyers to advance their claims. Gold Star families and other Americans thus often rely on litigation funding arrangements to pursue their cases against foreign actors in U.S. courts.”
Some Republicans have publicly hit the provision. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) wrote on X this week, “This bill protects elites and punishes whistleblowers, inventors, and retirees. It’s a corporate shield dressed up as reform.”
Conservatives raised free speech concerns when the bills were initially introduced. But now they are going to the mat because it has been included in the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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“This bill has made it into the BBB and the reconciliation process, so the threat is now real,” one critic said.
Senate Republican leadership and President Donald Trump are hopeful that the bill can be passed out of the Senate by next weekend, and then negotiations with the House can begin on a final version.