Bipartisan funding bill would allow senators to sue over government searches of their phone records

**Senate Passes Funding Package Including Provision Allowing Senators to Sue Over Data Privacy Breach**

*WASHINGTON —* A provision included in the funding package that the Senate passed Monday night as part of a bipartisan deal to reopen the government would allow senators to sue the federal government for potentially millions of dollars if their data is obtained without proper notification.

The legislative language is designed to uniquely benefit eight Republican senators who were recently found to have had their phone records—though not the contents of their calls or messages—accessed as part of the investigation that led to former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

While the bill does not explicitly mention Smith’s investigation, the language would retroactively apply to data requests made on or after January 1, 2022. This means the request for these Republican senators’ data, which was made on September 27, 2023, would fall under the scope of this new provision, making it susceptible to a lawsuit.

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**Read more at NBC News**

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*Topics:* Extended News, Government, News/Current Events, Politics/Elections

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