Not So Clean CR
Well, the federal government is back open, and Republicans got their way for a clean continuing resolution—no changes, just moving the ball down the field.
Not so fast, apparently.
We knew that there were three agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, that saw funding approved through the current fiscal year, as opposed to temporary funding through January like everyone else. That apparently made sense, and it ultimately made it through both the Senate and the House in short order after the deal was set.
Looks like someone on the Senate side snuck a little something into the bill, and it’s caught members of the House off guard, with the Speaker himself saying he knew nothing about it—so much for reading the bills in advance.
Eight current Republican U.S. Senators were among the 400 or so people who had their phone records secretly obtained by the FBI during the Biden Administration. There is a good case to be made that this was an impermissible invasion of privacy, one for which government actors might be civilly responsible.
So neatly tucked into the supposedly clean CR was a provision to allow any senator to sue the federal government for damages if federal law enforcement seizes or subpoenas their data without notifying them, with potential damages of a half million dollars each, for each violation.
While written broadly, it’s obviously designed to allow those Republican senators to sue over what the Biden Justice Department did to them.
I’m certainly not in favor of such a broad fishing expedition, like the one the Biden Administration undertook. But carving out a special privilege for members of Congress means special treatment that they approved for themselves.
That doesn’t sit well anytime, but certainly not when you are publicly beating the drum for a clean-with-no-amendments continuing resolution, while quietly showing the swamp is alive and well in Washington.
The House is threatening to enact legislation removing this provision…but good luck getting the Senate to pass a repeal since it was their idea to begin with.
Just when you think there’s a chance for change in Washington…comes proof that they’re all in it together.
