WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government may be back open — but a last-minute provision tucked into the funding bill is now setting off a new fight on Capitol Hill. And tomorrow, the House is expected to vote on legislation to overturn that controversial provision.
The federal government is funded through January — but a surprise add-on from the Senate has both parties in the House fuming.
At the center of it is a provision allowing only senators to sue the federal government for up to a million dollars if law enforcement obtains their phone or electronic data without alerting them first. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI would have to notify the Senate when a lawmaker is under investigation and if their personal information is being subpoenaed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says he and his members were blindsided by the last-minute addition.
The language was reportedly inserted by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., after eight Republican senators and one House member recently learned their phone records were quietly subpoenaed during Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 investigation.
The one House member on that list was Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Kelly, R-Pa.
“I think it’s kind of odd. There is apparently a procedure in the Senate where they can ask for something different than we can in the House. I don’t know that that is correct. We’re looking into it. If it was a serious problem for the senators, why wouldn’t it be a serious problem for members of the House,” Kelly said last week. “Do I have concerns about it? Absolutely.”
Kelly was left out of the Senate’s lawsuit provision entirely, as were all House members. That prompted pushback from several GOP hard-liners, who called the Senate’s provision “self-serving.”
Last week, Democrats also slammed the provision, calling it a “pirate’s treasure” for lawmakers under investigation.
A full vote to repeal the lawsuit provision is scheduled for Tuesday. If it passes the House, it heads right back to the Senate. A handful of the senators targeted in Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost probe — which was part of the Jan. 6 investigation — say they don’t plan to seek any money.
