House votes to repeal controversial Arctic Frost provision from government shutdown bill
The House of Representatives unanimously voted against a provision that allows Republican senators whose phone records were seized by former Special Counsel Jack Smith to sue the federal government.The provision...
By Fox News · Fox News
The House of Representatives unanimously voted against a provision that allows Republican senators whose phone records were seized by former Special Counsel Jack Smith to sue the federal government. The provision was included in the recently passed bill to end the 43-day government shutdown, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week. Despite supporters saying the provision is necessary to give senators recourse when the executive branch oversteps its constitutional bounds and reaches into congressional communications, the last-minute inclusion of the measure outraged both Republicans and Democrats, underscoring the ever-present tensions between the House and Senate. The repeal passed 426 to 0, with 210 Democrats and 216 Republicans in the tally. JACK SMITH INVESTIGATORS NEED TO 'PAY BIG' FOR JAN. 6 PHONE RECORDS PROBE, WARNS SEN. GRAHAM Dubbed "Requiring Senate Notification for Senate Data," the provision 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. "It had been added in the Senate without our knowledge," Cole said. "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." It was placed into the bill by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and given the green light by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last week. REPUBLICANS FEUD OVER 'ARCTIC FROST' ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURE, BUT CRITICS OFFER NO CLEAR ALTERNATIVE Thune put the provision into the bill at the request of members of the Senate GOP, a source familiar…