House amends funding package to repeal law allowing senators to sue for $500k, jamming upper chamber
Washington — The House approved an amendment to a must-pass funding package Thursday that would repeal a controversial provision that allows senators to sue for $500,000 if federal investigators search their phone records without their knowledge.
In a unanimous vote, the House approved an amendment to the rule that governs the package of funding bills, which the lower chamber is expected to vote on later Thursday ahead of a deadline to avert a government shutdown.
The Senate included the provision in a legislative package to bring an end to the government shutdown in November. It requires service providers to notify senators if their phone records or other data are seized or subpoenaed. Senators are entitled to $500,000 for each violation, and the law also applies retroactively to 2022 — allowing the senators whose phone records were seized during special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the 2020 election to sue the federal government.
Lawmakers in the House have expressed frustration over the provision for months, and the House unanimously passed a bill later in November to roll it back. But Senate GOP leaders have expressed little willingness to do away with the provision.
When one Democratic senator sought unanimous consent to approve the House-passed measure to repeal the provision in November, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, objected. Graham is one of the senators whose phone records were subpoenaed. Senate Majority Leader John Thune joined Graham on the floor to propose that the law be adjusted to "address the question that has been raised about personal enrichment." He said that, with the change, any damages awarded under the law would be "forfeited to the United States Treasury." But the change has not been made.
With the surprise amendment vote on Thursday, lawmakers in the House are effectively jamming the Senate by including the repeal of the controversial provision in a spending package that the House is expected to pass and send over to the upper chamber. And with just over a week before the deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, and the House set to be away on recess next week, the Senate will have no option but to approve the package — or prompt a shutdown.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the House Rules Committee, introduced the amendment. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on the House floor that "it's about damn time."
