On Thursday, a contentious law that could permit senators to sue for hundreds of thousands of dollars using taxpayer funds became a battleground as Senate Republicans and Democrats clashed on the Senate floor, thwarting repeated efforts to repeal or alter it.
This partisan exchange occurred as lawmakers in the upper chamber prepared to leave Washington, D.C., for the approaching Thanksgiving break.
Two separate attempts to expedite the repeal or modification of the law—which would allow senators targeted in the Biden-led Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Arctic Frost investigation to sue the federal government for $500,000—were unsuccessful.
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The provision, known as “Requiring Senate Notification for Senate Data,” was discreetly included in the government funding package designed to reopen the government and was enacted by President Donald Trump last week.
Growing bipartisan discontent has emerged over the law, stemming from concerns that it could enable lawmakers to potentially enrich themselves with taxpayer money, that it was added to the package at the last minute to reopen the government, and its retroactive nature—leading to numerous calls for its repeal. The House unanimously passed legislation on Wednesday night to accomplish this.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., proposed a resolution to clarify that any monetary damages obtained in a lawsuit against the government would not be used for a senator’s personal gain but would instead be forfeited to the U.S. Treasury. This would maintain the law’s primary intent of deterring the DOJ from subpoenaing senators’ records without proper notification.
“Just to be clear, no personal enrichment, accountability,” Thune stated on the Senate floor. “And I think protection for the Article One branch of our government, which, in my view, based on what we saw and what we’re seeing as the facts continue to come into the Arctic Frost investigation, there was clearly a violation of the law and a law that needs to be strengthened and clarified, so those protections are in place for future members of the United States Senate.”
However, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., quickly blocked his attempt.
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“I’m not saying there was anything nefarious, but it got in there, it clearly is wrong,” he said. “Anybody who looks at the face of it knows it’s wrong. That’s why the House voted unanimously, and that’s why I hope at some point we can do the right thing and fix this.”
Thune included the provision in the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, following requests from some Senate GOP members, during the final negotiations of the bipartisan package to reopen the government.
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He received approval from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who stated that he wanted to provide Democratic senators with protections from the DOJ under the Trump administration. Nevertheless, he expressed a desire to see the provision repealed afterward.
Thune’s effort to adjust the bill followed a similar expedited request from Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who sought to compel a vote on the House bill to completely repeal the law.
Heinrich, the ranking Democrat on the Legislative Branch appropriations subcommittee, asserted that Senate Republicans had “at the last minute” inserted the provision into the bill and that it would enable Senate Republicans targeted in former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation to sue for “millions of dollars from the U.S. government.”
“That means that each senator could actually pocket millions of dollars and that money would be paid from your hard-earned tax dollars,” he said. “And that’s even though the law was followed by the government at the time. And it’s frankly, this is just outrageous to me.”
However, some members of the Senate GOP, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., oppose the law’s repeal.
Graham was present on the Senate floor to block Heinrich’s effort.
He contended that his phone records were unlawfully obtained and that he would not allow, “The Democratic Party decide my fate. We’re going to let a judge decide my fate.”
“This is really outrageous,” Graham said. “You want to use that word? I am really outraged that my private cell phone and my official phone were subpoenaed without cause. That a judge would suggest that I would destroy evidence or tamper with witnesses if I were told about what was going on.”
“I’m going to sue,” he continued. “I want to let you know I’m going to sue Biden’s DOJ and Jack Smith. I’m going to sue Verizon, and it’s going to be a hell of a lot more than $500,000.”
