The House of Representatives is set to vote next week on repealing a contentious measure tucked into the government funding bill that ended the recent shutdown.
According to Fox News, a provision that allowed senators targeted in former special counsel Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 was quietly inserted into the Legislative Branch appropriations bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and approved by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The measure sparked tension between House Republicans and Democrats during the final days of the shutdown. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he feared it could derail the bill entirely.
“It had been done without our knowledge. I mean, it had been added in the Senate without our knowledge,” Cole told Fox News Digital. “It was a real trust factor … 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.”
The provision was requested by Senate Republicans, including Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to provide notification and a pathway for recourse if their records were subpoenaed by the Department of Justice.
Graham confirmed he plans to file a lawsuit under the provision, saying, “Oh, definitely. And if you think I’m going to settle this thing for a million dollars? No. I want to make it so painful no one ever does this again.”
But House Republicans expressed strong opposition, arguing it unfairly benefits senators at taxpayer expense. Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., who introduced legislation to repeal the measure, said, “The American people should not be asked to make compensation to United States senators… they saved this special treat for themselves.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., indicated a fast-tracked vote to repeal the provision next week. “I was just as surprised by the inclusion of that language as anyone… We’ll be requesting, strongly urging, our Senate colleagues to repeal that,” he said.
Even some senators who supported the principle of the provision said they do not plan to sue, including Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., though they said they view it as a deterrent against federal overreach.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., plans to pursue a declaratory judgment instead of monetary claims and will support repealing the provision.
The measure, intended to prevent misuse of the DOJ against sitting senators, has nonetheless become a flashpoint in the ongoing debates over congressional oversight, government transparency, and taxpayer protections. The vote next week will determine whether the Arctic Frost provision survives or is removed from federal law.
