House Republicans Want to Force Congress to Revisit a Provision That Lets Senators Sue Over Their Data

House Republicans are fuming that their Senate counterparts can now sue the federal government if their digital data is subpoenaed, acquired or accessed without notifying them, and they’re vowing to try to do something about it.

The provision, which was tucked into the funding legislation to reopen the federal government passed by the House on Wednesday, allows senators — and only senators — to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if their digital data is seized without previous notification, and they can do so retroactively through 2022. They can also sue again for the same amount if the federal government actually obtains that data.

But House Republicans aren’t thrilled about this last-minute add that some of them characterized as self-serving.

“I understand why they’re mad,” Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told NOTUS about the senators. “But I think we should have laws that apply to Americans, not to some special group.”

And House leaders are moving fast to repeal it.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s absolutely ridiculous. And we are going to do something about it,” Republican Whip Tom Emmer told NOTUS, adding he thinks the House will vote on legislation to address it “next week.”

Emmer was referring to a bill introduced by Republican Rep. John Rose to repeal the provision. In introducing the legislation, Rose wrote on X that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” And Emmer isn’t the only member of Republican leadership who Rose can count on for support.

“Just to be honest, I’m very transparent with you all, I was very angry about it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press conference on Wednesday evening. “And a lot of my members called me and said, ‘Did you know about it?’ We had no idea.”

“We will be bringing that up.
We will probably pass it on suspension early next week, and we’ll send it to the Senate,” Johnson said, adding that he’s been in conversations with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

This provision was added by the Senate only weeks after Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, released a report saying that former Special Counsel for the Department of Justice Jack Smith subpoenaed the phone records of several Senate Republicans without prior notification in 2023 as part of an investigation related to Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

The provision, which is retroactive to 2022, could disproportionately benefit eight GOP senators whose phone records were allegedly seized by the federal government in 2023: Sens. Josh Hawley, Bill Hagerty, Marsha Blackburn, Lindsey Graham, Cynthia Lummis, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville and Ron Johnson.

Some Republican senators affected by the incident, like Graham, said that they intend to sue the federal government by using this provision. He went as far as referring to the episode as a “coup” by the DOJ and as an attempt to stop President Donald Trump from returning to office.

It is not clear if Thune will bring the bill to repeal the provision to a vote. Thune’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the path to repealing this provision is not easy or clear.

House Republicans agreed to vote for the funding bill despite their outrage about this provision to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Rep. Chip Roy said that it was “actually absurd that they put that in there — It’s shockingly absurd.”

And while the congressman is open to finding ways to ‘fix’ the issue, Roy was enraged by the circumstances and he said the House should go to extreme lengths, like blocking every Senate-passed bill until they take up the issue.

“If the Senate wants us to move any other stuff, they better fix this,” Roy said. “Now, I’m open to some ways to fix it, but it can’t involve essentially an automatic sue and settle $500,000 windfall.”

Rep. Greg Steube, the only House Republican to vote against reopening the government over this provision, slammed his colleagues for voting for the bill. He told NOTUS that has little hope that this issue will ever be solved.

“You know Mike Johnson is not gonna do that,“ Steube said about Roy’s proposal to block the Senate’s bills until they take up the repeal.

“There’s no requirement that they do. Once this passes, it gets signed by the president, it’s law,” Steube said. “Do you think that Thune is going to take that up?”