US EditionHouse overturns Senate's $500k perk for seized phone records
The House unanimously repealed a provision allowing senators to sue for $500,000 over secret data seizures, forcing Senate approval to avoid a government shutdown.
- On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the rule governing a must-pass funding package to repeal a Senate-inserted provision via a surprise amendment to the spending package.
- House lawmakers, frustrated by the measure, had expressed frustration for months and unanimously passed a November bill to roll back the provision, but Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, objected to phone records subpoenas.
- The Senate provision entitles senators to $500,000 for violations and applies retroactively to 2022, following GOP lawmakers' phone records seizure during Jack Smith's investigation.
- With just over a week before the partial government shutdown deadline and the House recess next week, the Senate faces pressure to approve the package or risk a shutdown.
- Rep. Virginia Foxx, chair of the House Rules Committee, introduced the amendment and Rep. Jim McGovern said `it's about damn time`, while Senate GOP leaders resist change and Senate Majority Leader John Thune proposed forfeiting damages to the Treasury.
14 Articles
14 Articles
House Votes to Remove Provision Allowing Senators to Sue DOJ for Unlawful Phone Record Searches
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives unanimously voted on Jan. 22 to overturn a provision that would allow senators to sue the Department of Justice for unlawfully searching their phone records. The measure, introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), passed by a vote of 427–0 as an amendment to a must-pass appropriations bill. It mirrors legislation the House approved unanimously in November but that the Senate has yet to consider. The House …
House Jams Senate With Measure Stripping Senators’ Abilities to Sue Over Phone Records
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other House GOP leaders decided to strip out language allowing Senators to sue the government for damages to a must-pass spending bill. The move came after the Senate approved the policy in the bill ending the shutdown last fall. Francis Chung/POLITICO/APThe House voted unanimously Thursday to cancel the policy that allowed senators to sue the government for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages if their elec…
House jams Senate with repeal of phone records law that could enrich senators
The House on Thursday moved to jam the Senate with a repeal of a law that allowed senators to sue for substantial sums if they weren’t notified when law enforcement sought their phone records — adding the repeal to a government funding bill that the Senate will have to approve next week or risk a [...]
House jams Senate by attaching repeal of Jack Smith provision to $1.2T funding package
House Republicans vote to repeal Senate measure allowing lawmakers to sue government for $500,000 if phone records were seized, attaching a repeal to a funding bill needed past Jan. 30.
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