Push vote to reverse provision

House Republicans push vote to reverse provision allowing senators to sue over phone records

They won’t be able to strip it from the bipartisan funding package, though.

By Meredith Lee Hill, Hailey Fuchs and Mia McCarthy

Several House GOP hard-liners are pushing to kill a provision contained in the shutdown-ending funding package that would allow senators to sue the government if their electronic records are obtained without their knowledge, according to two people granted anonymity to share private conversations.

That legislative language was inserted in the Senate at the instruction of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, responding to the several Republican senators who are enraged their phone records were subpoenaed as part of Biden-era special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

But Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other House Republicans aren’t sympathetic to the rationale. While they aren’t demanding the language be stripped from the government funding bill — which would punt it back to the Senate and delay the reopening of the government — they are instead pressing for a future vote on a separate, standalone piece of legislation that would invalidate the provision.

They are eying a vote on such a measure through an expedited floor procedure typically reserved for noncontroversial bills that require the support of a two-thirds majority of those present and voting to secure passage.

Speaker Mike Johnson announced on social media Wednesday afternoon he would grant the request.

“House Republicans are introducing standalone legislation to repeal this provision that was included by the Senate in the government funding bill,” he said. “We are putting this legislation on the fast track suspension calendar in the House for next week.”

Republican members of the House Rules Committee — including Reps. Morgan Griffith of Virginia and Austin Scott of Georgia, who serve on the panel with Roy — raised concerns with the issue during a hearing Tuesday night to tee up the government funding plan for floor consideration.

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) also expressed consternation, saying he was “surprised” to see the provision dropped into the Legislative Branch spending bill included in the larger shutdown-ending measure.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said there was “bipartisan outrage” over the provision, adding that it appeared to violate chamber rules against Senators enriching themselves.

Asked about Senate Democratic leadership’s defense of the provision — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signed off the language — Raskin was dismissive.

“They don’t want to protect Democratic governors, Democratic mayors, Republican governors, Republican mayors, members of the House — it’s just for members of the Senate,” said the Maryland lawmaker in an interview Wednesday.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, also decried the provision.

“Instead of working to lower costs and put more money in Americans’ pockets, Senate Republicans are racing to hand out tax breaks to billionaires — and pay themselves for their work with President Trump to overturn the 2020 election,” DeLauro said.

“By inserting this poison pill payout into the Legislative Branch bill,” she added, “the Senate majority has set a dangerous precedent and created additional obstacles for conversations between the four corners moving forward on the remaining 2026 funding bills.”