This is so perfectly Republican.
Republican senators have slipped a provision into the Continuing Resolution bill to re-open government, that forbids the DOJ or Judicial branch from subpoenas targeting their phone records. The Senate will be protected from abuses to the 4th amendment, but you and me – no such luck.
Additionally, as further evidence to the structural priorities of the professional Republicans, if the legislative provision is violated, each instance of violation will result in a $500,000 payment to the senator. Go figure.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Republicans secured a provision in the bipartisan, shutdown-ending government funding package that could award senators hundreds of thousands of dollars for having their phone records collected without their knowledge as part of a Biden-era investigation.
[…] It was tucked into the legislative branch spending measure for fiscal year 2026, part of a three-bill “minibus” of appropriations measures that Senators were set to vote on Monday night alongside a continuing resolution to fund the government through Jan. 30. The House is expected to clear the package for President Donald Trump’s signature as early as Wednesday.
[…] The provision states that electronic services providers must notify a Senate office if the provider receives a request to disclose the data from that senator, or senator’s office. Moreover, the legislative language stipulates that the provider cannot be barred from notifying the senate office under a court order, though that notification may be delayed in the event the senator in question is under criminal investigation.
[…] This portion of the legislative branch appropriations bill also appears to provide a cash bonus for those Senators who were targeted by Smith’s probe. If the provision included in the bill is violated, the Senator can sue the federal government, and if the lawmaker succeeds in the case, the person will be awarded $500,000 or more for each violation by the government. (read more)
Don’t forget, in the last FISA-702 reauthorization, Congress also forbade any member of the legislative branch from being subject to the illegal use of the NSA surveillance system.
Congress is exempt from the FISA abuse they authorize on Americans, and Congress is exempt from subpoenas against their phone records that are authorized against Americans.
Seriously folks, we just cannot make this stuff up.
Disgusting. Not surprising, but disgusting.
This is a consequence of us supporting the CR process.
This is a disgusting and blatantly corrupt RINO attempt at making themselves immune from criminal prosecution based on evidence collected from communications – a source that has always been used to capture evidence of criminal actions or intent by citizens in this nation for the past 50 years or longer.
This “Get Out of Jail Free” card for Congress members should be unconstitutional under the the Equal Protection Clause – a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
I can’t dislike them enough
I’m pretty sure that the feeling is mutual.
I didn’t know that I could be more p!ssed off with this sorry bunch of scum we call a government.
The house could refuse it or trump could veto. Why do they not?
If the House takes it out, the Senate will never reconcile the bill. Govt remains shut down. Perfect blackmail by our righteous Senators once again.
They are the elites and don’t you forget about it, peon.
Not elites; PARASITES!!!
Doesn’t that suggest a question for “journalists” to ask, along the lines of, “Senator, we see that you have secured a provision in the bipartisan, shutdown-ending government funding package that could award (you) hundreds of thousands of dollars (if your) phone records (are) collected without (your) knowledge…”
“Will you be preparing a bill to provide that same protection to other Americans? And, if not, why not?”
And a follow-up question. What language is included in the bill to hold those who violated this provision accountable?
This is where presidential “line item veto” is needed.
And just who is going to fork over the money? Surely not the unprotected citizen. Must be coming out of the Senatorial Slush Fund for unwed mothas
Can’t have accountability in the bill. There would be nobody to generate the violation and the Senator would have no one to split the proceeds with.
I would pay money to any reporter who asks this question to Thune, Schumer, and five other assorted Senators and records their answers.
And I believe they were not forced to get the covid shot either.
Not sure we can stop it, but can we at least get one question answered?
Why the “privilege for them and not us?”
Additionally, Senators have a special retirement plan that none of the rest of us have access to.
and medical plan.
Makes one wonder…
What else has been slipped into that bill which has yet to make an appearance.
They have to pass it so we can find out what’s in it…..Echos all over the place.
They and their staff were exempt from the population control bioweapon (Covid vax).
Amazing how these Bastards continue to protect us and uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic /s
Unless cornered, liars prefer to hedge their bets by pretending to believe in an interpretation of the facts in which their lies are technically true. It’s the gnostic way of truth-telling: the liars just have a superior understanding of reality.
So the Constitution they “believe” in is their interpretation of it rather than what it says.
The United States of America “means” the government thereof — i.e., them.
And enemies domestic really are; there’s nothing they hate more than citizens and their dictatorial demands for accountability.
Does the House have to approve it? Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I’m surprised the House doesn’t do the same. Of course, it they added an amendment for that, it would then have to go back to the senate for approval, delaying the government opening. And Senators will have left for home by then.
If so, the House will likewise exempt its members too – fudge the workaday American. Makes one never want to vote for an incumbent ever again.
I can see Trump exposing it publicly and refusing to sign it.
Save it for Primary season, along with the votes cast.
Come Primaries, opt for other than self-dealers.
We should just do it anyway. So what if they get some cash out of it, IF the good guys get caught. It is better to know to whom these rodents-on-2-legs are betraying the American people.
That’s an insult to any-and-all two-legged rodents!!! SPIT!!!
Sorry, an insult to any-and-all normal, four-legged rodents! SPIT!!!
“So what if they get some cash out of it”….. The ‘cash’ is not the point, IMO. They already have ‘protections’ that the general population does not have. Different Laws for different people, nourishes Corruption.
The republicans are worthless… Nope, it’s not the RINOS, it is the entire republican party.
I just can’t figger out why President Trump doesn’t tell the spineless republican party to “Go To Hell”!
its a fair point to make.
but President Trump is not Superman. No President IS SUPERMAN. And not simply because they don’t have power, but because it’s practically and constitutionally limited. this is the predicament that WE THE PEOPLE FACE. we elect our representatives…and we elect our presidents’ as well. but in the end, congress makes law..
we understand that they are really law breakers and not law makers, but the president is virtually powerless to stop this kind of action. He has some influence using his bully pulpit and he can certainly and HAS been very focused on targeting villains….but this also comes with a cost and consequence to the other national priorities of which he depends on these same creatins to agree upon. It’s not ideal, and it gets sabotaged by corruption, but it’s important to remember just how unusually talented President Trump really is compared to all others. He has a bigger vision and concern. He can’t stop the corruption but he can move his priorities through it. That takes special talent that I dare few of us will ever have and encounter. But it also means that if we are not careful to notice this, we are drawn to believe (falsely as designed by the ) that our champion is a dope, powerless and misguided. We have to be on our guard to realize that there are so many criminals in DC who plan daily and hourly to set up false narratives about President Trump. Most people get it right when they realize that the Corruptors play book is to blame others for the exact crimes they commit. But it is important to know that when we use the word corruptor, it means both parties…left AND right. There are no good people working in good standing with the American People is what I am saying. It’s like two universes…the one we experience and believe in and desire to be the world that exist in DC. and then there is the reality of the universe of DC, which only serves itself…and only occasional, either from pure dumb luck or coincidence happens to realize some outcome that is perceived to be favorable to THE PEOPLE. This is not a cynical observation ….it is the reality of THE PROBLEM.
we are asking the wrong people to fix problems.
things change when we revolt….take powers back that do not actually belong to DC. That is called revolution…and we are in stage 5: transfer of power. It’s a very delicate stage. It can go EITHER WAY. and when the power does transfer…either to one side or to the other…the next stage realizes war…actual physical violence. It’s not something I prefer or desire and wish upon, but the reality is that history is a very good lesson about how these kinds of paradigm shifts occur. How a society is reborn…how its central state of government is affirmed and reformed.
there is no specific timeline for stage 5…the transfer can happen very slowly, or very suddenly. Most people who notice look at the election fraud as a major aspect of the transfer of power….. but as we also notice the pendulum of power also was recaptured….this speaks to the uncertainty of this stage…it’s fragile, because you have two forces..
one the immovable object…the other, unstoppable force.
the outcome is no guarantee…but there is one thing that we have to place our trust in: the Corruptors do not have any authentic moral principle…these people are without a soul and are godless. this means they cannot experience true power, they are not vessels of God. They are great pretenders….that make gains only from cheating, lying and stealing. When we become aware of just how weak that position is…we can locate that Achilles heel and make them bend ….
but we also must be aware that in doing so, we not become our own kind of enemy from within by allowing Corruptors in our own ranks to hold power. And we continue to fight against that too, as we notice that our DC ranks are filled with selfish reprobates, who are not guided my moral principle. Actions taken to get rid of these people must become a priority. If we skip this step in the revolution…we simply return to a different kind of swamp…with the same consequences. We are far from executing a good transfer of power at the moment. there are several critical issues that stand in the way of reformation.
the surveillance state///secret police spy state
money corruption
uncontrolled perverse sexualization
murder of defenseless human beings in the womb
unchecked drug use and a intoxicated congress
a national debt and deficit that will cause this nation to topple
an unprepared and misguided military policy
children that are being taught to disregard and disrespect their own parents…and older men and women
lying, cheating, stealing without consequence
these are the things WE MUST FIX. There are no white horses coming to save us. DC will not solve these problems because they work to create and extend these problems. The people, you see, US, are the answer but this means we have to seek a common source of power to accomplish a reform of our society.
and this means THE PEOPLE MUST RETURN TO GOD AND OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS.
it’s the only way to a legitimate reform.
God Bless America
We Need Sidney to comment on this.
Id love to hear Tulsi’s unvarnished opinion.
We cannot make this stuff up… And we cannot sit idly by and take this stuff, either.
Glad you noticed this hypocracy too. Thyme is a joke
…with the promise of violation quarterly.
$500k per “offense”. And look who’s paying. It’s not the “electronic service provider” (who, of course, have already purchased these asshats), it’s the federal government, AKA the taxpayer. That’s you and me.
So not only are we not afforded these same protections, but we get to pay up every time “our” senators are “violated”.
For $500k, you can read my electronic comms all day long. Cuz really, you already do.
Lucky “our” Senators continued to get paid during the shutdown (unlike our apparently superfluous military and air traffic control) so they could continue their important “work”. Like this steaming pile of self-serving crap.
You can’t hate these people enough. What are we to do? There is nobody to turn to. They don’t care about anybody but themselves. Obviously violating the Fourth Amendment is a huge problem and they only make laws to protect themselves.
We can only turn to God. And that’s what He desires. Remember, in the OT, He always wanted to prove to the Israelites that He had their back, as it were. He always told the Israelites to cut back their own soldiers, as compared to the enemy’s soldiers! He wanted the Israelites (and us as well) to KNOW that He’s in charge!!!
I was told that “He” is in charge. How is it that all this Evil is happening, and HAS happened, throughout History?
To make a significant point that none will ever forget.
We have no representation in DC.
At this point the only thing we can do is refuse to vote for any of them, even if the D’s get in it couldn’t be any worse. At least we will have kept the traitors from being in a position to stick it to us if we stick it to them first.
Never say “It can’t get any worse.” for we’ve already heard just a few of their ranting and heard Packing the Court, give Statehood to Jamaica, DC, etal, we see a communist mayor in NYC, very few changes made by Trump were not Executive Orders, etc. Immigration will resume bigger than ever, those 30 million still in-country will be given total amnesty, citizenship, housing, jobs and insurance. There is no end of ideas to destroy America by the Democrat/Communists. They simply must be stopped else the country gets destroyed !
I respectfully must disagree with the notion that if dims get control it couldn’t get any worse. I tend to think with good reason that it will get worse before it gets better regardless of which party holds the majority.
Why? Because it is in fact one single party.
The Republican and Democrat party is really, at it’s core, one single party. It is plain to see.
The only options we have is to make a big stink about it, loud enough to draw major media coverage and then primary them and vote them out. Problem is not enough people will get together and do it.
We bury ourselves on every cut to the American people that the govt. swords use on us. People are ignorant, passive and give up in the majority. This kind of slap at the people who PAY FOR THESE JERK’s salary and benefits makes me so steaming mad sometimes I want to hit something, preferably one of them. Just like when they voted down the proposal that Senate and House have their salaries stopped during the shutdown down. Those shmucks just shaft us every which way they can and laugh about it. Grrrr.
We ain’t gonna fix our problems by voting them out… We simply don’t have that much time to try to save our Nation…
I sincerely thought President Trump would at least make an effort to fix the corrupt DOJ, the corrupt FBI, and our corrupt court system, but, alas, It was just wishful thinking…
Turn to We the People. Rise up.
Mr Jefferson was correct about what should happen to governments every few decades.
there’s no way we’re voting our way outta this quagmire of sleaze and corruption
we lack organization on such a fundamental level. There should be multiple amendment supporting measures on every ballot. but there wont be.
this is so damned wrong on so many levels.
DOJ will pay half a million dollars for spying on Congress.
level 1 wrong: how will the DOJ get caught and prove it was spying?
level 2 wrong: for arguments sake, lets say DOJ does get caught..DOJ DOES NOT PAY SHITE. YOU PAY…WE PAY..THE PEOPLE PAY.
level 3 wrong: anyone who actually believes that congress does not commit criminal acts, such as insider trading…illicit perverse sexual acts IN THE CHAMBERS…is 100 percent dumb dumb. so who WILL watch the watchers?
someone wrote and its’ worth repeating:
we are asking the wrong people to solve problems. I never get tired of posting that reminder. These are not honorable people. There are scofflaws…reprobates…selfish embeciles.
and you know what…this is how you get the joker…Gotham does need a better criminal ….these people suck at it.
God Bless America
Ask yourself, if an esteemed “Constitutional scholar” such as Ted Cruz ever got nominated to the bench, and you had your phone records seized, how would he rule on your lawsuit against the feral goobermint?
Given he and other Republican Senators believe different people have different levels of Constitutional protection, it’s a question that should be answered.
Voting for this is disqualifying for any judicial position.
This is an intolerable act……ever read about those acts before?
please continue….I like your tone
God Bless America
Here is an accurate summary of the 4 Intolerable Acts, but it does suffer from a lack of revolutionary spirit.
The Intolerable Acts were the culmination of previous attemps to tax and control self the governance of the colonies.
The Intolerable Acts were one of the final sparks of our revolution. The Sons of Liberty , Sam Adams and company, questioned the Nature of the ruling authority….from whence did the right or power to rule, derive?
Hence We The People., and the idea of inherent Liberty which flowed from the Creator to each individual, both Sovregin.
I would further submit that it is a privilege to have a position of trust in a gorernment, and that there is no right of rulership except those privileges given directly by the people to a particular government.
Therefore since the Senate has explicitly taken unto itself, rights and privileges from which other citizens are excluded, this provision is an intolerable act, and clearly unconstitutional on its face.
Best regards!
Forgot the reference
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/intolerable-acts
EXCELLENT.
God Bless America
Wouldn’t it be great if President Trump vetoed it and told the citizens why?
Was thinking the same thing, but if he does veto it, then Trump-47 owns the shutdown.
What we need is some of those America First lawyers to create a lawsuit to end that little boondoggle and get that Supreme Court to remember that there are actual everyday citizens that are also entitled to the same protections and end this ‘we are all equal but some are more equal than others’ congressional get-out-of jail free laws they continually create to protect their own interests.
okay, rant over. eek.
Can’t be charged with insider trading. Can’t be charged with slander if said on the floor of the Senate. Will not be held to the same laws as their constituency.
I do not know about anyone else but this is getting old.
They have a license to lie that they issued to themselves. So very convenient!
It is stuff like this which explains why Republicans got their asses shellacked in last week’s elections.
Yes, Democrats cheat. Yes, the average person is completely unaware of the details of such inside baseball. But the average person can sense a game is being played, and that it is being played against them.
Being demotivated to vote, or worse yet motivated against voting, creates an environment in which Democratic cheating is a successful tactic.
since free and fair elections are a thing of the past, there’s no way to know the true results of last week’s elections
“Rules for thee but not for me…”
That picture Sundance posted with all of them laughing is disgusting, but accurate, IMHO!
Once again, snatching Defeat from the jaws of Victory. (H/T to El Rushbo)
…maybe a few of them do but most of those DC “elected” politicians don’t care about anything but the money, luxury and power of the office…we really do need a seriously serious housecleaning…beginning with making The Vote honest…I do not believe that “voting for and honest vote” will get it done…
Can the house pull this crap out when they vote on it??? What BS
what’s the point in paying taxes anymore then?
Which is worse?
That they protected themselves from ongoing Constitutional rights violations? Exempted themselves from FISA? Or that there was a Congressional slush fund financed by taxpayers used to pay off claims of sexual abuse?
Disgraceful.
and exempted themselves from the depop deaath jabs
I expect they and their staff weee all paid during the shutdown.
Good grief – they get paid half a million dollars for being spied on, taxpayer money.
What will the Vegas odds be that these same politicians will get some buddies in the DOJ to purposefully spy on their records, get discovered, just so the politicians can pocket that cool half a million?
Sick
Where’s our Treehouse Poet Bako when we need him?
Can hear the poem now starting with
“Poison pill in the bill . . .”
A pox on all their houses.
They truly belong to the sewer
And it just passed with a vote of 60yea 40nay…now they tooting their horn like really. 😛
What a bunch of corrupt, disgusting thugs. What purpose do they serve? Get rid of every one of them. They are not worth saving. But first set up stocks outside the building so we the people can force their heads through them and throw rotten food and whatever else we can find at their faces. Does anyone doubt they would do the same to us if they could?
First their very own Cadillac healthcare, now their very own phone subpoena protection care plan and payoff! I should have been a
CowboySenator!!! Senators taking care of Senators! Who knew? Certainly not our Founders!!! I’m embarrassed!!! What a bunch of weasels!!! JMOWe should all be screaming about this right in their ears and to their faces. That’s as disgusting as they have their them having their own nice little package of healthcare insurance too.
Gah, they are just disgusting about their little set up, which the founders said was supposed to be a short term service to the people that has now morphed into a lifelong career. Why not stay for decades when the benefits are so much better than anywhere else they can work. Bunch of greedy bast**ds and we are losers for putting up with it all.
I sometimes respond to comments that ask why the Republicans, our guys, don’t do a better job for us. Of course the response is that the Rs are not our friends, even though their offenses are not as obviously outrageous and flagrant as the Ds.
This is one instance where that even-though does not apply.
Thanks for letting us know, Sundance.
Maybe I’ve just been naive.
…and you think I should feel that the dims are my enemy?
Have these clowns no clue that they are setting themselves up as enemies to the people? This is the position they selected to occupy and not a position ascribed to them by the people. Can they not see? Are they blind to their own actions?
Do they look in the mirror every morning and not see the arrogant ass looking back at them?
Our government is going to fail under the weight of its own corruption.
There is no saving it and nothing left to save.
Can’t PJDT veto the Bill so that this “provision” doesn’t go through? This must be brought to his attention. It’s Dead Wrong! How can the DOJ bring Sunlight if these crooks have this kind of protection?
PT should call them out.
We are calling them out.
I call that an illegal move, they probably have more illegal act’s to hide than the average American.
No special laws should be allowed to made by themselves for themselves that would allow them to be above the law.
If ALL of the persons are hung in the public square who in any manner participated and/or enabled the unlawful spying we’ve been reading about recently, then the incidence of any such spying in the future would be greatly diminished.
EZ-PZ.
Does this mean the phone records will now be off limits for all those involved in the treasonous coupe attempt?
Funny that they think that will protect them.
Also, lots of problems in the hemp industry…. Suggest include Kevin McKernan’s work in your research.
http://hemphoax.com/
The Club.
Rules for thee, but not for me.
Similar to Smug elite Country Club types. Despicable!
It is all becoming very tiresome and seems we are being duped.
I had great hopes of America being saved and making a comeback with patriots at the helm.
That is becoming more of a pipe dream each day. This is the best President in my lifetime by far, but I don’t get the direction we are going anymore.
The further it goes, the further it gets away from what I voted for. Deprotations of millions, arrests of hundreds at the highest levels, exposure of the crimes we know have happened and continue to happen, and a return to the values that made America great. God help us all!
So I guess it’s OK if they give them 500 grand. They don’t even try to hide it anymore.
Would be nice if the president had a line item veto.
Now we know why he doesn’t.
Looks like we have a bunch of professional narcissists in Washington.
Can’t even end the shutdown until they are forced to stay in DC until
they do. Pesonality profile needs to be part of running for office, ie.
no narcissists, sociopaths, psychopaths need apply.
How about the novel solution of invoking the Insurrection Act for all of
this insurrection against the democratic republic of this country since 2015.
No – socialism, and communism, and islamism are NOT part of the country’s
definitions since 1776. Therefore, anyone espousing them IS an insurrection.
Mamdani, AOL, Keith Ellison, all – expose and arrest them, and any judges
espousing the same and not enforcing the Constitution. We don’t have any
more time to delay this, or to enforce non-machine voting with ID – historic
precedent – Argentina did it – Millei did it. GET BUSY, fire those who will not
(Patel, Blondie, etc.) Put the Patriots we trust in their place. Period.