Repeal of Senate Payday Provision

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, President Trump signed a funding bill into law yesterday that did more than just end a partial government shutdown. It corrected a serious wrong.

Buried deep inside the funding bill that the Senate passed and sent to us last November was a hidden provision that never should have seen the light of day. It was quietly inserted without transparency, without debate, and without notice to House leadership.

It allowed a handful of United States Senators to sue taxpayers for the rogue actions of the last administration. It enabled them to seek $500,000, per occurrence, for having their phone data seized by the Biden FBI.

This could have resulted in millions of tax dollars lining the pockets of a select group of United States Senators. It is no doubt that they were the architects of this provision. That is not accountability. That is corruption.

Nevertheless, Leader Thune and these Senators forced the House to swallow that provision in order to reopen the government after 43 long days. Families across the country were hurting. Pay for our troops was in jeopardy. Our airports were facing serious safety risks. In the meantime, congressional Democrats were referring to the shutdown as leverage.

Ultimately, House Republicans voted to fund the government and end the suffering. However, we never lost sight of undoing the self-serving money grab from taxpayers by a select group of Senators.

Hours before our vote, I introduced the first standalone bill to kill that provision. I also cosponsored Representative Austin Scott's legislation, which achieved the same outcome. It passed the House unanimously.

Yet, just like the SAVE Act, the bill sat on Leader Thune's desk week after week, month after month. I introduced a resolution that would have enabled Speaker Johnson to argue the unconstitutionality of the Senate payday provision and to ask the courts to strike it down.

I even attempted to insert a repeal amendment into the National Defense Authorization Act. Yet, when we sent our funding bill to the Senate last week, we gave Senate leadership a taste of their own medicine and forced them to choose between the Senate payday or reopening the government.

Let me be very clear. I support real accountability. Last October, I signed onto a letter urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a criminal investigation into the activities of Special Counsel Jack Smith and to consider possible Fourth Amendment violations during Operation Arctic Frost.

That deserved scrutiny. That deserves answers. It doesn't merit restitution paid for by hardworking waitresses, truck drivers, and small business owners. Hardworking taxpayers shouldn't be punished to put millions of dollars into the pockets of a select group of Senators.

The Tennesseans who I represent have suffered enough because of the many failed policies of the last administration, and they shouldn't be forced to pay more.

The House prevailed in putting a stop to this.

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