Last week, a provision to allow senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 if their phone records had been surveilled was added to the continuing resolution (CR).
Nobody in the House apparently read the bill, as it passed easily, but after the fact, some lawmakers wanted to repeal that provision straight away.
While the effort to repeal the provision passed in the House, it failed in the Senate, as some Republicans are refusing to budge on their perceived right to taxpayer dollars for what they deem to be overreach by Joe Biden’s DOJ.
I was honestly stunned to learn that Republicans had added this provision to allow suits against the government for $500,000 over special counsel Jack Smith having accessed their phone records during the Arctic Frost investigation.
The measure was written in a way that it would also cover any future instances of such privacy breaches, which is why Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) agreed to sign off on the bill.
Members of House leadership claimed they were ignorant of the provision's existence because they “trusted” that the Senate had sent them back a clean bill, which was infuriating, only because it confirmed my belief that Congress passes legislation they never read.
The amendment to repeal the provision passed unanimously, 426-0.
One of the senators who would potentially benefit from the measure is Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who claimed he knew nothing about it.
He responded, “I wasn’t asked about it. I wasn’t told about it. I’m one of the eight people to whom it applies, and I knew nothing about it till I read it in the bill. So, not a great way to do business.”
Well, if you did, in fact, see it in the bill before it went to the floor, then why didn’t you bring it up publicly before the vote, or simply expose it to the public to put pressure on Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Schumer to remove it from the broader legislation?
I am also noticing that Donald Trump has not said a word about it, so it raises the likelihood that he knew about it and approved, or he also did not read the bill that he signed.
When the measure went before the Senate, it failed to pass, and this was after Thune tried to amend the measure by saying that all funds secured by litigants would be forfeited to the Treasury Department.
Well, that did not go over well with swamp creature Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) because he wants to get paid. He responded, "I'm going to sue. I want to let you know I'm going to sue Biden's DOJ and Jack Smith. I'm going to sue Verizon, and it’s going to be a hell of a lot more than $500,000."
Placing blame on the “Biden DOJ” does not cover up the fact that the American taxpayer will still be footing the bill for any lawsuits that follow. Again, if you want to go after former Attorney General Merrick Garland, Jack Smith, or anyone else for their perceived overreach, by all means, do it. But don’t expect the taxpayer to pay for a lawsuit just because you are upset with Democrats.
House Republicans are furious over the entire situation, and they should be. Having said that, it does not excuse them for passing a bill with a provision in it that they clearly never read. All of them, in my opinion, are a disgrace.
