With its 60-vote threshold, the Senate almost always gets to jam the House on major bills. Over the years, that has let the Senate slip in parasitic provisions — new laws that could never survive the light of day on their own — before sending legislation to the House for a final vote.
But, at least in modern times, senators have shied away from opening the door for themselves to win taxpayer money.
Until this week.
Under a new law, passed as part of the larger funding bill that reopened the federal government, senators would have the right to sue the government if their data is obtained by executive branch agencies without their knowledge. Eight Republican senators could now be in line to win millions of taxpayer dollars in restitution because their phone records were accessed as part of the investigation that led to special counsel Jack Smith's probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Senate's move made those lawmakers eligible for up to $500,000 for each time their records were accessed — which provided information on who they called, for how long and at what time, but not the content of their conversations. The provision, which does not apply to House members, also limits defenses available to the federal government.
The House could have stripped the lawsuit language out of the funding bill and sent it back to the Senate, but that would have kept the government's lights out indefinitely. House members, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said they were outraged, but the majority voted for the broader measure to open the government, with the Senate provision included.
Johnson vowed to let the House register its displeasure with a separate vote to reverse the provision. At the very least, that will give Republicans political cover — they can respond to criticism back home by saying they voted to repeal it. But it's hard to fathom the Senate taking that up unless public outrage forces its hand.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the eight senators directly affected, said he plans to sue and wants a big payout. He attributed that to deterrence, rather than personal benefit.
"If you think I'm gonna settle this thing for a million dollars, no," he said. "I want to make it so painful no one ever does this again."
The House, after 200-plus years, still has no strategy for causing the Senate that kind of pain.
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