The Chair of an influential US Congressional Committee says the British government's controversial Legacy Bill "threatens peace and stability" in Ireland.

Congressman Bill Keating made the comments during today's House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing on truth and accountability for victims of the conflict (which can be watched back on YouTube below). 

The British Government's so-called Legacy and Reconciliation Bill seeks to replace police investigations and due court process with an information "recovery and reconciliation body", which could offer amnesty for Troubles' killers. 

Chairing this afternoon's public briefing, Mr Keating said the Bill "threatens the very effects of the Good Friday Agreement".

"The enduring nature of the crimes committed during the Troubles, the uncertainty caused by these crimes, and the brazen nature by which the UK Government has moved forward with their draft legislation on amnesty makes this briefing all the more relevant," he stated.

He said the Good Friday Agreement had created a"shared path forward for enduring peace", but spoke to the need to address Troubles crimes that "remain unsolved and unaccounted for".

The Congressman insisted the the British Government's plans "prioritise amnesty for crimes committed during the Troubles."

"This legislation would provide immunity that is in reality an amnesty to individuals who cooperate with the new commission, as well as prevent future prosecutions under certain circumstances and all civil claims," he told the committee.

"This approach not only impedes any accountability for those who committed the crimes but also whitewashes history in the names of information recovery. While information recovery is certainly important, this legislation does not comprehensively ensure accountability for the crimes committed during this time. The legislation fails on that account, sets a dangerous precedent, and squarely endangers the Good Friday Agreement itself."

Today's briefing also featured testimony from Relatives for Justice CEO Mark Thompson, WAVE Trauma Centre Coordinator Alan McBride and Dr Anna Bryson, Senior Lecturer at QUB's School of Law at the George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace.

Dr Bryson spoke to the intent of the Bill in shielding state actors from prosecutions.

"There has not been a single successful prosecution of a state actor," she said.

"It's difficult to square all equal before the law, a commitment to independent investigations when, in the same breath, you're reassuring some sections of our population that this is essentially a Get Out of Jail Free card."

She added: "We have immunity from prosecution for troubles related offences, the bar could not be set much lower. You simply have to attest that you've told the truth to the best of your knowledge and belief and then you must be granted immunity."

Mr McBride questioned the efficacy of the proposed recovery and reconciliation body. 

"The notion that people are going to come forward and engage in these processes, I think, is fanciful," he said. "If the alternative was that if you don't (come forward) then we're going to go after you, bring you before the courts, and we're going to prosecute you then that might be a viable choice. But the choice is not between that. The choice is between cooperate or do nothing and nothing will happen."

He added: "There just hasn't been the political appetite to go after these people."

Mr Thompson said the Bill does away with "protections against future violations" of human rights as contained in the Good Friday Agreement. 

"This bill drives a horse and cart through those rights," he stated.

"When examined in detail it is essentially a blanket amnesty, mendaciously framed a reconciliation.

"This Bill is the very opposite of reconciliation. Such deliberate framing makes it all the more sinister with its menacing objective, which is to deny fundamental rights to justice for victims of egregious violations and to principally shield, to protect from scrutiny and investigation, UK state forces and their agents with illegal paramilitaries, responsible for well over 1,000 murders. It is this very objective that frames this Bill front and centre."