House unanimously passes bill to strip Senate phone investigations provision from funding bill
It now goes to the Senate, where the outlook is certain.
The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a measure to repeal controversial language in the government funding bill that allows senators to sue the government if their phones are investigated without their knowledge.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier Wednesday continued to be noncommittal about what the Senate will do after the House acts.
The provision was inserted at Thune's request, ABC News learned, into the massive government funding bill that passed Congress and was signed into law last week at Thune's request.
The majority leader, who has control over what legislation is voted on in the Senate, did not commit to taking any sort of action in the Senate if the House's effort to remove the language is successful and offered a defense of the provision.
"You have an independent, coequal branch of the government whose members were, through illegal means, having their phone records acquired, spied on if you will, through a weaponized Biden Justice Department. That to me demands some accountability," Thune said. "And so, I think everybody is focusing on the private right of action, and whatever the number, you know the number that they agreed on. I think the important thing in all of this is, where's the accountability, and what is the consequence of bad behavior."
The legislation that was approved as part of the funding bill gives senators the ability to sue the government retroactively for $500,000 per device accessed as part of an investigation. Eight Republican senators had their phone records subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith as part of his investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and would be eligible to sue under the law.
Many of those eight senators have told ABC News they have no intention of suing under the new rule. Some of those affected, like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., say they would support the House effort to appeal.
"I think it's a bad idea. I mean listen, I'm all for accountability. I mean, I had my phone tapped so I'm all for accountability, don't get me wrong. But I think taking taxpayer money is not the right way to do it. The right way to do it is tough oversight," Hawley, R-Mo., said Wednesday morning.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another senator whose records were accessed by Smith, is digging in.
Graham told host Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night that he intends to sue for "tens of millions of dollars" under the new rule.
"I think this was worse than Watergate, an effort to destroy President Trump, charge him with crimes that are just ridiculous, and come after people like me. I'm not going to put up with this crap any more. I'm going to sue," Graham said.
"I am going to sue. If you don't sue, they'll keep doing it. Don't run away from this Republicans, fight back," Graham told Hannity.
Attorneys representing Smith sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley in October seeking to correct what they call "inaccurate" claims that Smith wiretapped or spied on Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation.
ABC News asked Thune Wednesday if he believed it was appropriate for his members to be suing the government for "millions" in taxpayer dollars.
"I don't think there is anybody that was targeted for whom the money matters. I think it's more the principle and making sure there's a remedy in the future," Thune said.
Thune ultimately controls whether the bill gets put on the Senate floor.
If he allows it to, it would need 60 votes to pass. It's unclear at this time whether there would be those votes, but there are several Senate Republicans who have signaled that they would support repealing the language.
Related Topics
Popular Reads
ABC News Live