Always read the fine print. As it turns out, the Senate-approved funding bill to end the government shutdown includes a very interesting provision… It would allow the eight Senators who were spied on by the Biden FBI and Jack Smith during the infamous ‘Arctic Frost’ probe to sue the federal government for a whopping $500K for each violation. BREAKING: The government funding bill that will be voted on tonight allows Republicans to sue over the Biden FBI and Jack Smith spying on Senate Republicans, with each senator eligible to receive $500,000. — Leading Report (@LeadingReport) November 12, 2025 As a refresher, the eight GOP senators who had their phone records illegally seized by the Biden FBI were: Lindsey Graham Bill Hagerty Josh Hawley Dan Sullivan Tommy Tuberville Ron Johnson Cynthia Lummis Marsha Blackburn Keep in mind that the lawsuit lets each senator sue for $500K per violation, not per person. CBS News provided more details: The language in the new legislation requires service providers to alert Senate offices and the Senate sergeant at arms if federal law enforcement requests senators’ data, and says a court cannot delay the notification unless the senator is the target of a criminal investigation. The bill further states: “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.” The bill says senators are entitled to $500,000 for each violation of the notification provisions, and it prevents the government from invoking several types of immunity to rebut the claims. Suits can be brought up to five years after a senator is first made aware of a violation, and allows senators to bring suits for any instances that occurred after January 2022. The FBI analyzed the senators’ call records in 2023, meaning they could bring lawsuits under the legislation. The government can defend against a suit by asserting that a senator was a target of a criminal investigation and by showing that a required notification about the records being pursued was delayed under a court order. Sen. Lindsey Graham claims there were multiple violations against him. So, if this passes, he alone could sue the government for millions of dollars! Both House Democrats and Republicans are criticizing this provision as a mere cash-grab. Watch: BREAKING: The government funding bill to be voted on tonight allows Republicans to SUE over the Biden FBI and Jack Smith SPYING on Senate Republicans. Each senator can get $500,000 THOUSAND. “It’s on page 217-229 of the funding bill. Senators can sue the federal government… pic.twitter.com/A3V0UZUHrw — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 12, 2025 BREAKING: The government funding bill to be voted on tonight allows Republicans to SUE over the Biden FBI and Jack Smith SPYING on Senate Republicans. Each senator can get $500,000 THOUSAND. “It’s on page 217-229 of the funding bill. Senators can sue the federal government using taxpayer money if federal law enforcement seizes or subpoenas their data without notifying them.” I don’t always agree with Hakeem Jeffries, but he’s not entirely wrong in that clip above (also, notice how he never denies the spying itself happened…) Don’t get me wrong: what the Biden FBI and Jack Smith did was very wrong and very illegal. The Operation Arctic Frost scandal makes Watergate look like a parking ticket. But, it appears like all this provision does is allow Senators to collect millions of dollars from the government in taxpayer money. Exactly this: So they get $500,000 of MY tax dollars because someone spied on them? The ONLY way this is okay is if the money comes from the people that did the spying. Otherwise it’s just a money grab on the backs of the taxpayers. So much for a clean CR. — Beekman (@BeekmanNoCo) November 12, 2025 Wouldn’t it be better to, you know, prosecute Jack Smith and the other actors involved in ‘Arctic Frost’ directly? Several House Republicans are rightfully furious that the Senate tacked this onto the so-called “clean CR” bill at the last minute and want it removed. But of course, to do so would mean that the bill would have to get sent back to the Senate again, which would delay re-opening the government. Fox News reported: 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. 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.”