House Republicans balk at Senate provision letting lawmakers sue over ‘Arctic Frost’ phone records

By Fox News · Fox News

Three House Republicans voiced frustration over a last-minute provision added to the Senate-passed government funding bill that would retroactively allow senators targeted in the "Arctic Frost" investigation to sue the U.S. government for at least $500,000 each. Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and Austin Scott, R-Ga., criticized the Senate provision Tuesday evening during a House Rules Committee hearing. Scott was first to highlight the provision, which states that "any Senator whose Senate data, or the Senate data of whose Senate office, has been acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed in violation of this section may bring a civil action against the United States if the violation was committed by an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any federal department or agency." Each violation would be worth at least $500,000, along with attorney fees, litigation costs and any additional relief granted by the court. JACK SMITH INVESTIGATORS NEED TO 'PAY BIG' FOR JAN. 6 PHONE RECORDS PROBE, WARNS SEN. GRAHAM Scott said that as soon as he found out about the provision, he started asking questions. "This language did not go through any committee markup. This language was not shared with the House of Representatives prior to it being put in the bill," explained the Georgia congressman. "And I personally agree that it should be removed." Roy said he shares Scott’s concerns and doesn’t think the provision should have been inserted. "It certainly shouldn't have been inserted at the eleventh hour without deliberation and back and forth," he argued. "There were Democrats and Republicans involved with it. But look, I think there's gonna be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, they're going to see it as a self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff. And I don't think that's right." The phone records of eight Republican senators were subpoenaed without notice by former Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation into th…