GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provision

What happened

When the House passed the spending bill to reopen the government on Wednesday night, many Republicans said they backed it despite being furious over a provision Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had slipped in allowing senators to sue the government for at least $500,000, and likely $1 million or more, if their phone records were obtained without notification after 2022. Rep. Greg Steube (Fla.), one of the two Republicans who voted no, cited that measure as the reason.

The provision was added to address Senate GOP anger over special prosecutor Jack Smith’s 2023 subpoenas of several senators’ phone call logs, part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. But only one senator has announced “definitive plans to take advantage” of the payout clause, Politico said. Five of the other seven eligible Republicans indicated Thursday “they have no plans to pursue compensation,” CBS News said.

Who said what

Thune “thought he was giving Republicans a gift,” but most of them “don’t want it,” Politico said. The provision is “already creating political liability for Senate Republicans,” as Democrats “pummel the GOP for endorsing a taxpayer-funded windfall and fellow Republicans in both chambers decry the provision as poorly conceived.”

Dropping this language in “at the last minute” was “way out of line,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Wednesday night. The House is “going to repeal that, and I’m going to expect our colleagues in the Senate to do the same thing.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the Senate’s taxpayer-funded “million-dollar jackpot payday” for senators was “one of the most blatantly corrupt provisions for political self-dealing and the plunder of public resources ever proposed in Congress.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he was “definitely” going to sue under the provision. “And if you think I’m going to settle this thing for a million dollars? No,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I want to make it so painful, no one ever does this again.” Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) suggested they also might sue for financial damages.

What next?

With House Republicans “enraged over the provision’s inclusion,” Johnson’s promised repeal measure was “expected to pass overwhelmingly with bipartisan support” next week, Politico said. “It’s not clear what Thune plans to do with the bill.”

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