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Three House Republicans voiced frustration over a last-minute provision added to the Senate-passed government funding bill that would retroactively allow senators targeted in the “Arctic Frost” investigation to sue the U.S. government for at least $500,000 each.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and Austin Scott, R-Ga., criticized the Senate provision Tuesday evening during a House Rules Committee hearing.
Scott was first to highlight the provision, which states that “any Senator whose Senate data, or the Senate data of whose Senate office, has been acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed in violation of this section may bring a civil action against the United States if the violation was committed by an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any federal department or agency.”
Each violation would be worth at least $500,000, along with attorney fees, litigation costs and any additional relief granted by the court.
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Scott said that as soon as he found out about the provision, he started asking questions.
“This language did not go through any committee markup. This language was not shared with the House of Representatives prior to it being put in the bill,” explained the Georgia congressman. “And I personally agree that it should be removed.”
Roy said he shares Scott’s concerns and doesn’t think the provision should have been inserted.
“It certainly shouldn’t have been inserted at the eleventh hour without deliberation and back and forth,” he argued.
“There were Democrats and Republicans involved with it. But look, I think there’s gonna be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, they’re going to see it as a self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff. And I don’t think that’s right.”
The phone records of eight Republican senators were subpoenaed without notice by former Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill.
The senators who had their phone records accessed were Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Smith’s attorneys sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in late October, defending his handling of the case and the decision to subpoena the lawmakers’ phone records.
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“A number of people have falsely stated that Mr. Smith ‘tapped’ Senators’ phones, ‘spied’ on their communications, or ‘surveilled’ their conversations. As you know, toll records merely contain telephonic routing information—collected after the calls have taken place — identifying incoming and outgoing call numbers, the time of the calls, and their duration,” read the letter in part.
“Toll records are historical in nature, and do not include the content of calls. Wiretapping, by contrast, involves intercepting the telecommunications in real time, which the Special Counsel’s Office did not do.”
Griffith said at the committee hearing that he suspects any senator who plans to run for reelection will not make a claim.
“So, I think that this is going to resolve itself,” he added. “But if not, I’m prepared to vote later. But I’m not prepared to keep the government shut an additional day.”
GOP frustration over the provision is not expected to impact the House vote on the government funding bill, which is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
If Republicans wanted to remove the provision, it would need to be sent back to the Senate for approval.
Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.
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