Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., defended — and even doubled down on — the disputed provision tucked into the Senate's short-term funding bill, brushing aside mounting criticism from House Republicans and insisting the lower chamber should stay out of it.
The clause — loosely referred to as the "Arctic Frost" or "spy clause" — would let senators seek up to $500,000 in damages from the Justice Department if their communications or activities were secretly surveilled, mirroring the circumstances that emerged during the Arctic Frost investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith and the FBI into President Donald Trump.
House Republicans, including Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, have lambasted the provision as "self-serving" and vowed to strip it out before the lower chamber votes.
"We'll see what the House does, but I will tell you that that was designed — that was a Senate-specific solution. The statute that was violated applied only to the Senate, which is why we addressed it the way that we did," Thune told reporters Wednesday at his weekly press conference.
"We strengthened that provision when it comes to allowing a federal government agency, the Justice Department, in this case, to collect information, private information, on individual senators. We think that is a violation of powers under the Constitution," he said.
Smith's Arctic Frost probe secretly obtained phone and email records from several Republican lawmakers, aides, and conservative groups without notifying them, using broad subpoenas routed through the Justice Department.
Investigators also collected metadata from political strategists and Trump-aligned organizations while examining alleged efforts to influence the 2020 election results. The surveillance, revealed only after court filings surfaced, ignited fierce backlash from GOP lawmakers who said they were improperly targeted.
The provision states that any senator not notified that their data was used or targeted in an investigation may sue the government for failing to follow federal law. It allows a senator to bring a civil action if their office's data was improperly obtained, searched or disclosed by a federal officer or agency.
"That was stupid, quite honestly, to put that language in this bill," Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said.
Roy called the provision "self-serving" and "self-dealing," adding, "That provision needs to get fixed; it needs to get fixed as soon as possible."
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Newsmax on Tuesday that he opposes the provision, warning that it risks sticking ordinary taxpayers with the bill instead of holding the true wrongdoers accountable.
"I don't think anybody needs to go after the American taxpayer here. They didn't do anything," Tuberville said. "This is making American taxpayers pay money."
The House is expected to vote Wednesday evening on legislation to repeal the provision.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he was blindsided by the clause's inclusion in the funding bill that ended the 43-day shutdown.
"I was kind of frustrated by it," Johnson said Sunday, later adding it was "way out of line."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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