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House Votes Unanimously to Reverse Surveillance Payments to Senators
TheConservativeTreeHouse ^ | November 20, 2025 | Sundance

Posted on 11/20/2025 10:08:34 AM PST by SoConPubbie

As noted last week, the Senate included a provision in the government reopening bill to allow Republican Senators to sue the DOJ and data providers who comply with subpoenas for senator’s telephone and email records.

Nine senators who previously were targeted by Jack Smith and Arctic Frost subpoenas likely stand to make millions from lawsuits under the legislation.

In the latest round of DC pretending, the House voted 426-0 to repeal that specific law and terminate the Senate payday. Is the Senate going to take up the bill, of course not. However, the House now has another useless talking point (strong in the pearl clutching is this one) to campaign and fundraise with.

House members are great actors, very upset – very, and their level of pretense is excellent on this repeal bill. The unanimous vote really gives both wings of the uniparty, that reach across the aisle, a selling feature for the next election.

WASHINGTON DC – The House unanimously voted 426-0 Wednesday night to claw back language in last week’s government funding bill that could award some GOP senators hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for having their phone records unknowingly obtained by former special counsel Jack Smith.

The language, which was quietly slipped into the shutdown-ending package last week by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, drove bipartisan outrage in the House. Even outspoken critics of Smith — including House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is leading an investigation into the Biden-era probe — supported the effort to repeal a politically toxic measure that was quickly branded as a taxpayer-funded windfall for a select few.

“That policy, in my opinion — in the opinion I think of all the members of this institution — is unacceptable,” said House Administration Committee chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), during floor debate. “No one should be able to enrich themselves because the federal government wronged them, no elected official should be able to.”

The provision would allow senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 or more if their electronic data was subpoenaed without proper notification. But there are concerns over the language’s retroactivity — which would extend protections to at least eight Republican senators whose records were obtained as part of Smith’s investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election results.

There are no guarantees the bill to repeal the language will get a vote in the Senate. (read more)



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1 posted on 11/20/2025 10:08:35 AM PST by SoConPubbie
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To: SoConPubbie

So how will the Senate go?


2 posted on 11/20/2025 10:15:36 AM PST by Paladin2 (YMMV)
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To: Paladin2
So how will the Senate go?

I wonder which Senators were responsible for inserting this language into the bill?
3 posted on 11/20/2025 10:19:04 AM PST by SoConPubbie (Trump has all the right enemies, DeSantis has all the wrong friends.)
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To: SoConPubbie

Shouldn’t they be suing the phone companies instead?


4 posted on 11/20/2025 10:21:24 AM PST by digger48
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To: digger48

For obeying a judge’s order?


5 posted on 11/20/2025 10:24:05 AM PST by MortMan (Charter member of AAAAA - American Association Against Alliteration Abuse)
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To: MortMan

The Judges need to be de-funded.


6 posted on 11/20/2025 10:25:04 AM PST by Paladin2 (YMMV)
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To: Paladin2

And defrocked.


7 posted on 11/20/2025 10:33:58 AM PST by MortMan (Charter member of AAAAA - American Association Against Alliteration Abuse)
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To: SoConPubbie

After they voted for it and knowing the Senate won’t vote to repeal it.

More profiles in courage.


8 posted on 11/20/2025 10:36:09 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: SoConPubbie

Literally no one in DC cares if Fed.gov has to pay $millions, $billions or even $trillions

PEOPLE, like Jack Smith and Merrick Garland, should be held responsible.


9 posted on 11/20/2025 10:47:28 AM PST by PGR88
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To: SoConPubbie

Would a new Law fall into being, “EX POST FACTO?”
Unconstitutional, sorry.


10 posted on 11/20/2025 11:56:29 AM PST by BatGuano (Donald J. Trump, thank you!.)
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To: SoConPubbie

“”I wonder which Senators were responsible for inserting this language into the bill?””

Perhaps not a Senator...If you like to read, check out “The Zero Game” by Brad Meltzer - fiction - but MAYBE more truth than fiction..I wouldn’t be surprised if it was real life.

Staff members on Appropriations - inserting language in bills and betting on whether anyone notices before the vote is taken. Bets are disguised in code and delivered around the Capitol by House or Senate Pages and only a few are in on the game and no one knows who all the players are.

I bought the paperback used and was ready to put it in my “give away “ pile when I decided to give it another try and glad I did...fun reading - everything needed for a good mystery thriller!


11 posted on 11/20/2025 1:46:27 PM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: SoConPubbie

MORE EVIDENCE THAT EVERY BILL SHOULD BE A “STAND ALONE BILL”.


12 posted on 11/20/2025 1:57:42 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: SoConPubbie

The Senators can sue the perps in their individual capacity. There is evidence that they violated RICO statutes. Can also sue the telecom companies that gave the information to the government.


13 posted on 11/20/2025 5:38:03 PM PST by WASCWatch ( WASC)
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