More than 100 House Democrats are amping up pressure on the Senate to undo what they say amounts to a “taxpayer-funded payoff to eight Republican senators.”
In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Friday, shared first with MS NOW, Democrats called on the South Dakota Republican to immediately schedule a vote on legislation undoing a controversial provision in the bill passed last week to reopen the government.
The provision — which caught lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle by surprise — would allow senators to sue the government for up to $500,000 if their phone records are obtained without their knowledge. The measure stems from a special counsel investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Americans are tired of watching politicians come to Washington to get rich while everyday Americans face skyrocketing costs and struggle to make ends meet.”
House Democrats, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune
“Americans are tired of watching politicians come to Washington to get rich while everyday Americans face skyrocketing costs and struggle to make ends meet,” the House Democrats wrote.
“Your provision, slipped into the bill in the dead of night, would funnel millions of public dollars into the pockets of Republican senators who may have had knowledge of, or even played a part in, President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” they continued.
Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, led the effort on the letter to Thune, which was sent just days after House Republicans and Democrats joined to issue a stinging bipartisan rebuke of their colleagues in the upper chamber. It was signed by the top three Democrats in the House, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
The $500,000 lawsuit proposal was drafted after eight senators — all Trump allies — learned that their phone records for the days surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were obtained during former special counsel Jack Smith’s so-called Arctic Frost investigation.
The House — in a move rarely seen in today’s polarized Washington — voted unanimously on Wednesday, 426-0, to repeal the provision from the budget bill.
Whether that united front in the House, or this latest letter, will move the Senate to act is unclear.
Just this week, the House voted almost unanimously — only one member voted no — to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, generating quick action in the Senate, where Thune had previously offered little indication the bill would ever see movement.
On Thursday, Thune defended the provision in the spending bill but hinted he may be open for reforms. He said the measure was “never meant to enrich senators” but rather to provide “important protections” from a “weaponized Department of Justice that is pursuing political enemies.”
He then put forward a plan aimed at clarifying that any damages awarded under the provision would go to the U.S. Treasury — not to the lawmakers themselves.
While the House is united, GOP senators — including those who stand to benefit financially if the provision is allowed to stand — are divided on whether the language should be repealed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is among those whose “limited tolls records” were obtained as part of the special counsel probe, blocked an attempt on Thursday by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., to repeal the lawsuit provision by forcing the Senate to adopt the House bill through a procedure called unanimous consent. Heinrich was unsuccessful.
“What did I do wrong? What did I do to allow the government to seize my personal phone and my official phone when I was Senate Judiciary chairman? What did I do?” Graham asked in a fiery floor speech.
“I’m going to sue Biden’s DOJ and Jack Smith. I’m going to sue Verizon,” Graham said, vowing, “It’s going to be a hell of a lot more than $500,000.”
But another one of those who had his records reviewed, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he disagreed with the provision — and was surprised when he came across it while reading the legislation in the hours before the Senate vote.
“I didn’t know about it. I wasn’t asked about it,” Hawley said.
“I just don’t think senators going and suing to get monetary damages from the taxpayers is the right course of action here,” he said.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.