House Votes To Repeal $500,000 Senate Perk For Seized Phone Records
House lawmakers from both parties moved with rare speed and unanimity on Wednesday to wipe out a controversial Senate-crafted perk that had quietly been tucked into the recently passed government funding bill. The provision — drafted and inserted without House input — allowed U.S. senators to sue the Justice Department for up to $500,000 if their phone records were seized without their knowledge.
The House vote to repeal the carve-out was overwhelming: 426–0, according to Axios. And the bipartisan outrage was directed squarely at the Senate.
The clause, negotiated with the approval of Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blindsided House members and inflamed tensions that had already been simmering throughout the record-breaking shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he had no idea the perk had been slipped into the massive funding package until after it passed the Senate — and before lawmakers left town.
“I wish they hadn’t, and I think it was a really bad look,” Johnson said.
The Senate authored the provision after eight senators learned their phone records had been seized by the Biden-era Justice Department during its controversial Arctic Frost investigation. Only senators — not House members, not ordinary Americans — would have been eligible to retroactively sue the federal government.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., ripped the measure as nothing more than a congressional get-rich-quick scheme. He called it a “Be a Millionaire provision” and blamed Johnson for allowing it to reach the floor.
“The Senate was so thoroughly convinced of the House’s irrelevance that they thought that they could literally insert a self-enrichment scheme into the legislation and get away with it,” Kiley said.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, joined the criticism, blasting the Senate language as “self-serving” and “self-dealing.”
Johnson promised last week to bring up a standalone repeal after conservatives threatened to derail the entire funding bill over the Senate giveaway. Reopening the package to remove the language would have prolonged the shutdown even further.
The speaker emphasized that he shared his conference’s anger. “I trust John Thune,” Johnson said. “He’s a great leader, but some members got together and hoisted that upon, put it into the bill at the last minute.”
Thune, however, isn’t backing down. He defended the original provision and refused to commit to whether the Senate will follow the House in repealing it.
“The House is going to do what they’re going to do with it,” Thune said. “The law that was violated was a statute that only affected the Senate. We drafted this whole thing not to in any way implicate the House.”
Meanwhile, the Senate forged ahead this week on one of the most significant pieces of energy legislation in years — a sweeping nuclear-power package strongly backed by President Donald J. Trump as part of his agenda to “unleash American energy.”
The bipartisan bill was paired with legislation reauthorizing the U.S. Fire Administration and federal firefighter grant programs. It aims to speed up the approval and construction of new nuclear plants as many of America’s aging reactors approach retirement.
According to Newsweek, the measure cuts licensing fees for energy companies and directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce a report on how to simplify and accelerate environmental reviews.
The package passed 88–2, with Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voting no.
President Trump has made nuclear modernization a top national priority. He has issued four executive orders requiring the NRC to streamline its regulatory process, accelerate licenses, and decide on applications within 18 months — a dramatic shift from the years-long delays that previously crippled the industry.
The U.S. once led the world in nuclear construction, but excessive regulation, high costs, and red tape allowed China to take the lead by building a record number of new reactors. Trump officials say the new reforms are aimed at reversing that decline and restoring America’s dominance.