House jams Senate by attaching repeal of Jack Smith provision to $1.2T funding package
The House of Representatives is moving to jam the Senate by attaching a repeal of the upper chamber's Arctic Frost repayment measure to a funding bill that's key to averting...
By Fox News · Fox News
The House of Representatives is moving to jam the Senate by attaching a repeal of the upper chamber's Arctic Frost repayment measure to a funding bill that's key to averting a partial government shutdown. A Senate GOP-led measure allowing Republicans in the upper chamber to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if their phone records were seized by ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith is still causing heartburn in the House. House lawmakers voted unanimously Thursday to roll back that measure, as an amendment to a $1.2 trillion federal funding package that's expected to get a vote later in the day. If the funding package is passed, the Senate will be forced to consider the repeal along with the larger spending bill or else amend it and risk running the clock down on Congress' Jan. 30 government shutdown deadline. ICE FUNDING BILL DRAWS FIRE FROM LEFT AND RIGHT AS SHUTDOWN DEADLINE NEARS The Senate GOP-led measure was included as part of a wider government funding package that ended the longest-ever shutdown in U.S. history last November. Its inclusion caught many House Republicans by surprise, angering them for its use of taxpayer dollars to benefit a relatively small contingent of lawmakers. A House vote on repealing the measure late last year similarly passed via a unanimous vote but was never taken up in the Senate. DHS FUNDING HEADS TO HOUSE VOTE AFTER JOHNSON QUELLS GOP REVOLT OVER ETHANOL "The leadership was worried about them rejecting it, but let them own it if they want to object to it," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who called the measure "ridiculous," told Fox News Digital on Thursday. It will now be part of the overall funding package sent to the Senate, which provides dollars to keep the Department of War, Department of Education, Health and Human Services Department, and Department of Homeland Security, among others, running for the remainder of the fiscal year. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., with a green-light from Senate Minority Leader Ch…