Repeal the Self-Serving Senator Lawsuit Provision

The Republican-backed spending package that was passed by Congress to reopen the government included a sneaky provision that allows senators to sue the United States government for up to half a million dollars if federal investigators search their phone records without advance notice. This allows eight Republican senators, alleged to be associated with the January 6th riots, to retroactively sue, because their phone records were seized in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference. The provision was written to only benefit US senators, not members of the House.

This provision has received criticism from both sides of the aisle. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) argued that it would give millions of taxpayer dollars to a handful of senators, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) called the provision “self-serving”. Other members of Congress did not know that this provision had been included and questioned why it was part of a funding bill to begin with. Despite the bipartisan criticism of this provision, the spending package passed to end the government shut down; now a new bill will be required to repeal this provision.

This provision gives these specific Republican senators an unfair advantage over all other American citizens, who don’t have “an absolute right to be notified that their call records have been subpoenaed, much less the right to a million bucks if it happens”. Call your representatives and demand that they immediately repeal this provision that lines the pockets of Trump’s closest allies at the expense of taxpayers.