House Republicans Move To Block Jan. 6 Payout For Republican Senators [View all]

Source: Huff Post

Jan 22, 2026, 05:28 PM EST | Updated 9 hours ago


WASHINGTON — Congress is set to repeal a controversial new law allowing certain U.S. senators to claim millions of dollars in damages from the Justice Department. It’s revenge for House Republicans, who were furious when their Senate counterparts slipped what’s essentially a personal payday into a government funding bill that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last fall.

“Several weeks ago now, the Senate sent us legislation at the last minute that had we rejected it and sent it back, the government would have [stayed] shut down,” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) told HuffPost. “We’re in a similar position, only it’s reversed now.”

The law at issue allows senators — and only senators — to file claims for at least $500,000 in damages if the Justice Department used a subpoena to obtain their phone records without notifying their offices. Senators wrote the provision after learning last year that former special counsel Jack Smith had obtained several of their phone records during his investigation of President Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.

The repeal was attached to a must-pass appropriations package on Thursday. The Senate must approve the bill when it returns from its recess next week, or reject it, an unlikely scenario that will almost certainly cause another government shutdown, albeit a partial one affecting only certain agencies, on Jan. 30.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jan-6-senator-damages-government-funding_n_69728b16e4b00114c521bd74?origin=home-latest-news-unit