Infighting continues in the Republican Party over a controversial provision Senate Republicans slipped into the bill to end the federal government shutdown — with a conservative lawmaker in Tennessee turning up the heat against it.
Specifically, Rep. John Rose (R-TN) wants to repeal a provision authorizing senators to sue for up to $500,000 in cases where their communications were tracked in federal investigations — and tack it onto the annual defense budget.
“BREAKING: I just proposed an amendment to the NDAA that would get rid of the unconstitutional payday provision for Senators,” wrote Rose on X. “If Leader Thune sees fit to shove a self-serving money grab into a must-pass funding bill to reopen the government, then the House should do the same and shove a repeal into the must-pass NDAA.”
The provision was put in as a response to recent reporting that special counsel Jack Smith obtained telephone records from senators who were in contact with President Donald Trump while investigating the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election — a standard investigative procedure in cases like this, but one that caused a widespread freakout among GOP officials.
After this provision in the government funding bill became widely known, House Republicans broadly condemned it, saying it was a bad look for senators to effectively give themselves the power to sue for taxpayer money. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other leaders stopped short of demanding it be stripped out of the funding bill, instead saying they would like to pass a standalone repeal later.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), for his part, has hit back at House Republicans and defended the measure, saying it’s a useful safeguard against prosecutorial overreach. Most GOP senators potentially impacted by this procedure say they do not currently have any plans to actually sue for a payout, although Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) does want to do so.
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