WASHINGTON — House Republicans are frustrated with their Senate colleagues for inserting language into the government spending bill without their knowledge that would let some senators sue the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Tucked into the funding bill to reopen the government is a provision that would allow senators to sue any federal department or agency for seizing phone records without prior notice — with each payment coming out to $500,000 per violation. The language came in direct response to revelations earlier this year that former special counsel Jack Smith had obtained phone records of eight senators without their knowledge as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
But the language was added to the funding bill without House Republicans’ knowledge, many of them say — including Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., the top House lawmaker tasked with funding the government.
“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 in a hearing late Tuesday night to advance the funding bill to the full House floor. “But do I think getting the government open is important? Yes I do.”
Several other Republicans present at the hearing were furious about the provision, and signaled they were ready to take action against the Senate to repeal the language.
“I do not think that this provision should have been inserted. It certainly shouldn’t have been inserted at the 11th hour without deliberation and back and forth,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said. “But that provision needs to get fixed and we need to find a way as a body to get it fixed as soon as possible and I’m continuing to explore the options.”
Top House Democrats similarly lambasted the provision and introduced an amendment on Tuesday to remove the language from the bill. But Republicans hesitated to support the amendment, citing concerns it would further delay the reopening of the government.
“I had a hard night and I’ve been struggling with what the right vote is because of what the Senate did,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., said on Tuesday. “I’ve struggled with what the right course of action here is because what they did is wrong, this should not be in this piece of legislation.”
The language in the bill would require cellphone service providers to alert Senate offices as well as the Senate sergeant at arms if a federal law enforcement official or agency requests the data of a specific senator. The provision only covers senators and does not include language for members of the House.
But it would also allow senators to retroactively sue a federal agency if their data was “acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed” in the past — paving the way for those senators who were targeted in the Jan. 6 probe to file damages against Smith.
Senators can file legal action up to five years after first learning of the violation for any instances that occurred after January 2022. Smith’s subpoenas seizing phone records happened in 2023.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, are gonna see it as self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff,” Roy said. “It’s why people have such a low opinion of this town.”
It’s not clear how House Republicans may try to repeal the provision, which is set to become law later this week when President Donald Trump signs the spending resolution. That package is expected to pass the House on Wednesday evening and could be signed by the president as early as Thursday morning.
House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, R-La., affirmed on Wednesday that he would place a bill on the House floor next week to repeal the language, although it’s not yet clear how long that could take. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., specifically approved the language in the bill, according to Politico, making it uncertain if he would bring that bill to the Senate floor for a vote.
“House Republicans are introducing standalone legislation to repeal this provision that was included by the Senate in the government funding bill,” Johnson said in a post on X. “We are putting this legislation on the fast track suspension calendar in the House for next week.”