House votes against letting GOP senators sue over Jack Smith records

The House voted unanimously against a provision allowing Republican senators whose phone records were seized by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue the federal government.

The provision was included in the recently passed bill to end the President’s 43-day government shutdown Donald Trump came into force last week.

Although supporters say the provision is necessary to give senators recourse when the executive branch oversteps its constitutional limits and interferes with Congressional communications, the measure’s short notice outraged both Republicans and Democrats and underscores the pervasive tensions between the House and Senate.

The repeal passed by a vote of 426-0, with 210 Democrats and 216 Republicans voting.

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The provision, titled “Required Senate Notification of Senate Data,” would allow senators directly involved in former special counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic freeze investigation to sue the U.S. government for up to $500,000.

House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., who helped craft part of the successful funding deal, told Fox News Digital he even feared it could derail the final vote to end the shutdown.

“It was added in the Senate without our knowledge,” Cole said. “It was a real trust factor… I mean, all of a sudden this shows up in the bill and we’re faced with the question of either we leave it in here or we pull it out, we have to go to a conference and the government won’t reopen.”

It was signed into the bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and given the green light by Senate Minority Leader Chuck SchumerDN.Y., sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last week.

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Thune added the provision to the bill at the request of members of the Senate Republican Party, a source familiar with the negotiations told Fox News Digital, which included Sens. Lindsey GrahamRS.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

It was a big point of contention if the House Rules Committee met last Tuesday evening to prepare the legislation for a final vote. Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) all shared House Democrats’ frustration with the measure, but made clear it would not stand in the way of ending what has become the longest lockdown in history.

Even speakers Mike JohnsonR-La., seemed surprised by the move.

“I had no prior notice of this at all,” Johnson told reporters last week. “I was frustrated, as my colleagues are here, and I found it untimely and inappropriate. That’s why we will strongly urge our Senate colleagues to repeal this.”

These Republicans agreed with the reasons why their colleagues in the Senate wanted to sue, but bristled at the idea that it would come at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital the senators were “unquestionably wronged, in my opinion,” but added that the scope was too narrow.

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“This provision does not allow other Americans to seek redress. It does not even allow the President of the United States, who was also wrongly monitored and prosecuted by the Department of Justice – they didn’t even include President Trump in this,” Rose said.

And while several senators facing the taxpayer-funded lawsuits distanced themselves from the issue amid the uproar, others stuck to their guns.

“My phone records have been confiscated. I will not tolerate this crap. I will sue,” Graham said on “Hannity” Tuesday night. He said he would ask for “tens of millions of dollars.”

Cruz also told Fox News Digital that he does not support repealing the provision.

And Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., defended the provision in comments to Politico.

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“I want us to be able to defend our industry if the DOJ gets out of control,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also indicated to reporters Wednesday that he supports the measure.

“I would simply say, I mean, you have an independent, co-equal branch of government whose members have had their phone records obtained illegally – spied on, if you will, by an armed Biden Justice Department,” Thune said. “I think that requires a certain amount of responsibility.”

He added: “I think in the end this is something that is everything.” Members of Congressboth the House and the Senate, will likely need it for protection, and we have been thinking about setting up the Senate and individual senators in the future.