House Republicans are going after GOP senators who stand to collect millions of dollars courtesy of a veiled provision within a bill seeking to end the government shutdown.
The provision would give members of the Senate the ability to sue the government for obtaining their phone records without notification by the Justice Department. In 2023, the department obtained the records of several senators as part of its investigation into President Donald Trump‘s actions on Jan. 6. The provision said that those affected could receive $500,000 per violation.
Eight Republican senators’ phone records were obtained in the probe, including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Missouri’s Josh Hawley, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn. The provision caught the eye of members of the lower chamber, who called the language “wrong.”
“I personally agree this should be removed,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said during a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday. “The problem is, if we remove it, it has to go back to the Senate.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, joined Scott in his condemnation.
“There’s going to be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, are going to see it as self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff,” Roy said. “I don’t think that’s right.”
Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., disagreed with the provision, said that opening the government outweighed any misgivings about the bill.
“Did I know about this provision in the bill? No. Do I think it needs to be in a funding bill? Not particularly,” Cole said. “But do I think getting the government open is important? Yes I do.”
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Democrats were no more pleased than Republicans. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., took to social media after the Rules Committee shot down her amendment to remove the provision.
“Republicans in the Rules committee just green-lit corrupt Senator payouts,” she wrote on X.
Top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., blamed the senators for “pathetically casting themselves as victims” in a Tuesday statement.
“No one has an absolute right to be notified that their call records have been subpoenaed, much less the right to a million bucks if it happens,” Raskin said.
