A Senate provision in a major spending package to end the partial government shutdown has rattled House Republicans and given new political ammunition to Democrats seeking to defeat the measure.
A provision in the fiscal 2026 Legislative Branch spending bill, which is part of the package, would allow senators to sue for at least $500,000 each when federal investigators search their phone records in a judicially sanctioned probe without notifying them.
It would also apply retroactively, meaning at least 10 senators whose records were searched by former special counsel John L. “Jack” Smith in his probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol would automatically be entitled to big payouts.
