Lindsey Graham blocks House-passed bill to repeal shutdown deal provision allowing $500,000 lawsuits from senators

Source: cbsnews.com

November 20, 2025 / 3:51 PM EST

Washington — Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, blocked a Democrat-led effort to approve a House-passed measure to repeal a controversial provision that allows senators to sue for $500,000 if federal investigators search their phone records without their knowledge.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, sought unanimous consent to approve the measure after the House unanimously passed the bill Wednesday, saying the provision many lawmakers are looking to repeal, which was tucked in last week's funding package, represents a country that "is not serving the people."

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The new law requires service providers to notify senators if their phone records or other data are seized or subpoenaed, and senators are entitled to $500,000 for each violation. It also applies retroactively to 2022, allowing the senators whose phone records were seized during special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the 2020 election to sue the federal government.

But Graham, one of the senators whose phone records were subpoenaed, blocked the bill. Any single lawmaker has the power to block a bill's passage under unanimous consent rules. ........................




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