Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered Thursday to amend the controversial provision he slipped into last week’s government funding package that could award GOP senators hundreds of thousands of dollars for having their phone records seized without their knowledge as part of an investigation into President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Thune’s proposal, presented on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, would clarify that any payout to senators seeking damages would be directed back to the U.S. Treasury and would not personally enrich lawmakers.
It comes less than 24 hours after the House voted unanimously to repeal the legislative language. It also follows a tense GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, where Thune got an earful from his own members upset they had no advance warning about the provision.
Republicans discussed how to change the legislative language during the closed-door meeting and spent much of Thursday working to nail down the changes before Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) came to the floor seeking unanimous consent to pass the House repeal measure.
The provision passed last week would allow lawmakers to be personally awarded at least $500,000, which could have resulted in millions of dollars transferred to several GOP senators who were singled out by former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s activities following the 2020 election.
There was no agreement on the floor Thursday to move forward with Thune’s proposed measure, which would not have changed the underlying statutory language. He instead offered a resolution that would have been binding only in the Senate and would not require House approval.
Heinrich, the ranking member of the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee, objected to Thune’s offer, saying the law itself needs to be changed and that both parties should keep talking about addressing the retroactivity of the provision.
“Frankly, this is just outrageous to me,” said Heinrich. “This is at the exact same time as 22 million Americans could see their health insurance premiums skyrocket because Republicans refuse to extend the [Affordable Care Act] tax credits.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was among the lawmakers Smith subpoenaed, objected to Heinrich’s unanimous consent request and made clear he wasn’t interested in anything that would prevent him from filing a lawsuit.
“What did we do to justify having Jack Smith issue a subpoena for the phone records of a branch of government — the Senate — where all of us had to decide whether or not to certify the election?” Graham asked on the Senate floor. “We’re not going to let the Democratic Party decide my fate. We’re going to let a judge decide my fate.”
Graham also thanked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the language with Thune. Schumer told reporters yesterday he supported a repeal.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
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