Senate Republicans, Dems block dueling attempts to repeal controversial Arctic Frost provision
Senate Republicans and Democrats squared off on the Senate floor on Thursday, blocking attempt after attempt to repeal, or change, a controversial law that would allow senators to sue for...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Republicans and Democrats squared off on the Senate floor on Thursday, blocking attempt after attempt to repeal, or change, a controversial law that would allow senators to sue for hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. The partisan back-and-forth came as lawmakers in the upper chamber were jetting from Washington, D.C., for the upcoming Thanksgiving recess. Two different attempts to try and fast-track a repeal or tweak of the law that would allow senators targeted in the Biden-led Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Arctic Frost probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 were shut down. HOUSE VOTES TO REPEAL CONTROVERSIAL ARCTIC FROST PROVISION FROM GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BILL The provision, dubbed "Requiring Senate Notification for Senate Data," was tucked away in the government funding package designed to reopen the government and signed into law by President Donald Trump last week. There has been growing bipartisan fury over the law — varying from anger that it would allow lawmakers to possibly enrich themselves with taxpayer money, that it was included at the last minute into the package to reopen the government, and the retroactive nature of the provision — and numerous calls to have it repealed. The House unanimously passed legislation Wednesday night to do just that. Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., offered a resolution that would clarify that any monetary damages won in a lawsuit against the government would not go toward personal enrichment for a senator, but would instead be forfeited to the U.S. Treasury, still maintaining the core idea of the law to act as a deterrent from the DOJ subpoenaing records from senators without notifying them. "Just to be clear, no personal enrichment, accountability," Thune said on the Senate floor. "And I think protection for the Article One branch of our government, which, in my view, based on what we saw and what we're seeing as the facts continue to come into the Arctic Frost investigation, t…