From Fox News: The House is expected to vote next week on repealing a controversial measure in the bill that ended the government shutdown.
It caused heartburn for House Republicans in the final days of the shutdown and provided fresh ammo for Democrats hoping to delay their federal funding legislation in its final hours.
The provision, tucked into the Legislative Branch appropriations bill and dubbed “Requiring Senate Notification for Senate Data,” would allow senators directly targeted in former special counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation to sue the U.S. government for up to $500,000.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., who was involved in crafting part of the successful funding deal, told Fox News Digital he had even been afraid it could derail the final vote to end the shutdown.
Cole explained, “It had been done without our knowledge. I mean, it had been added in the Senate without our knowledge. It was a real trust factor … I mean, all of a sudden, this pops up in the bill, and we’re confronted with either leave this in here, or we pull it out, we have to go to conference, and the government doesn’t get reopened.”
Fox News explained that the provision was inserted into the bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and approved by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Multiple Republican senators had asked Thune to add the provision, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
However, Fox News stressed:
Most of the eight senators who did have their phone records subpoenaed as part of Smith’s investigation were also unaware of the provision until the legislation was unveiled over the weekend and have no intent to file a lawsuit.
The inserted provision was the reason Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) voted against the final bill. He told reporters, “I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, “I was just as surprised by the inclusion of that language as anyone. I had no prior notice of it at all. I was frustrated, as my colleagues are over here, and I thought it was untimely and inappropriate. So we’ll be requesting, strongly urging, our Senate colleagues to repeal that.”
Johnson said a vote to repeal the provision would be fast-tracked next week, and he hoped the Senate would follow suit.
“House Republicans are introducing standalone legislation to repeal this provision that was included by the Senate in the government funding bill. We are putting this legislation on the fast track suspension calendar in the House for next week,” Johnson announced Wednesday.
House Republicans are introducing standalone legislation to repeal this provision that was included by the Senate in the government funding bill. We are putting this legislation on the fast track suspension calendar in the House for next week. https://t.co/QgAmTNwILu
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 12, 2025
Rep. Keith Self (R-Tex.) wrote, “It’s outrageous that senators would slip in a provision to enrich themselves—behavior that surpasses the corruption of insider trading.
“Politicians must be held to the same standards as every American, not granted special privileges. No American should face unwarranted government surveillance. I look forward to repealing this self-serving, corrupt scheme next week. Shame on the U.S. Senate.”
It’s outrageous that senators would slip in a provision to enrich themselves—behavior that surpasses the corruption of insider trading.
Politicians must be held to the same standards as every American, not granted special privileges. No American should face unwarranted…
— Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) November 13, 2025
READ MORE from Fox News.
GOP unity shattered by controversial measure in government shutdown bill https://t.co/3q90JNrinV
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) November 14, 2025
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