GOP House Turns Against Their Own GOP Senate Before Vote

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2:10Ben Meiselas:The MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives were absolutely livid. Livid, I tell you, when they discovered that Republicans in the Senate snuck in a provision in the continuing resolution in this funding bill that would pay eight Republican senators$500 ,000 each, at least, potentially even more, but at least$500 ,000 each for their frivolous claims that they were harmed in connection with special counsel Jack Smith's criminal investigation into Donald Trump overthrowing the results of the 2020 election because there were subpoenas for phone numbers of people connected with the insurrection and at least eight of these Republican senators' phone numbers.

3:00Ben Meiselas:It's not like their phones were tapped. It's not like people were listening to their phone calls. Their phone numbers were appearing on a subpoena issued by special counsel Jack Smith. And as a result, they say that they've suffered grievous harm and injury, and they put into the bill a provision that will allow them to sue for at least$500 ,000. Let me show you what went down during this house hearing. You have MAGA Republican Congress member Scott. Here's what he has to say. Play this clip. And they talk about it being good governance. The thing that I can't get past though, And this is, again, I mean, for the American citizens, if you go to page 227 of the bill, limited retroactivity, limited retroactive applicability.

3:57In general, the amendments made by this section shall apply to any acquisition, subpoena, search, accessing, disclosure of Senate data as defined in Section 10A of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2005, and to any favor to disclose such an acquisition, subpoena, search, accessing, or disclosure occurring on or after January 1 of 2022. Me too. So it's given them the ability to retroactively go back. We know, you literally know who at least, we may not know all of them, but we at least know the list of some of them. In this paragraph, the term violation section 10 is the meaning given to the violation section.

4:41It goes on from there. But there's also language in there where it indicates that each account, Each account is a separate payment.

4:55Now, this language did not go through any committee markup. This language was not shared with the House representatives prior to it being put in the bill. And I personally agree that it should be removed. The problem is, if we remove it, the Senate, it has to go back to the Senate. and then you're right back to where you were 40 days ago where all of a sudden you're trying to

5:23Ben Meiselas:get a piece of legislation out of the senate okay he goes i'm so upset about this but what are you going to do about it then you have mega republican congress member chip roy here's what congress member roy has to say here play this clip separation of powers concerns all the things we can debate all that. But, you know, we think it was pretty egregious. So I have no problem with the prospect of going after and trying to empower, even through private right of action, a way to go, because we do it in other contexts, consent decrees and other things. But the retroactive, you know, potential to have dollars going to United States senators, when we've got American citizens, whether it was J6ers, whether it was people from the FACE Act, whether it was others that have also had the full force of the federal government through the Department of Justice targeting and coming down on them, and they're going to see, oh, but you can slide in a provision in here for United States senators?

6:21Like, I just, it is beside my comprehension that this got put in the bill, and it's why people have such a low opinion of this town. I am torn also, the gentleman from Georgia, because we need to fund the government, and we need to get this passed, and I'm trying to figure out what we can do to force the Senate's hand to say you're going to repeal this provision and fix it without amending it here to then delay the funding of government, which we want to proceed to go move forward with. But that provision needs to get fixed, and we need to find a way as a body to get it fixed as soon as possible.

6:56And I'm continuing my explore of the options tonight. I yield back to the dumpster, Georgia. Mr. Scott, would you yield? I just want to point out it's$500 ,000. And the way it's written, it is a minimum of$500 ,000. It is per line.

7:12Ben Meiselas:Now I'll show you what MAGA Republican Congress member Griffith has to say. He goes, I'm so angry, but there's nothing I'm going to do about it. Here, play this clip. Mr. Griffith, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. I too am very concerned about those sections. I will tell you I've already made the decision that I will vote for this bill and not vote for any amendments. Because the shutdown needs to end. It's been going on too long. Too many of my people are hurting. And we've got to get it done. There's some other issues in here. Not as egregious, but at least it was done in the light of day with a vote.

7:49But the hemp issues that was a fight between gentlemen in the Senate from Kentucky. Both of them fighting each other. I don't agree with the solution they came up with, but I'm voting for it because I've got too many people that need the government to open. And therefore, notwithstanding, we're going to hear some great amendments, I'm sure. But I'm not voting for any of them because we need to get this thing done and then we can start negotiating on other things. November hits harder than a linebacker. Between the family drama, football brain melt, and turkey sweats that last through New Year's, you're going to need jeans that can handle it all and keep you looking damn good.

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9:55Ben Meiselas:Democratic Congress member Joe Neguse put a fine point on what the MAGA Republicans were doing and how absolutely ridiculous and offensive it is that while Americans are starving right now, as the MAGA Republicans are ripping away health care, as they're ripping away SNAP benefits. This is what you're doing here. Let's play this clip right here. Far from haranguing the chairman, I'm given the opportunity for the chairman to explain the meaningful work that he's been engaged in. And I suspect that he welcomes and relishes that. So I want to talk to you about the provision that my colleague from Pennsylvania noted earlier.

10:32And this is the provision that essentially allows specifically eight Republican United States senators to reap upwards of a half a million dollar payday with respect to the phone record notice provision that they've added into the bill. You support that provision? I didn't have anything to do with it. Didn't have any knowledge of it. Not asking you to have knowledge of it. Do you support it? Do I support the bill? Yes. Do I support every single provision of the bill? No. You don't find this provision repugnant? I think most American people are going to find this pretty Republican. I was surprised to see it in the bill.

11:07I was unaware of it. It was not. Why not work with us to remove it? Let's see what you do. Well, we've got an amendment. I will tell you this. I am very concerned. And actually, Democratic senators said this. I think particularly of Senator Coons. I am very concerned that anybody, whether they're in the House or the Senate, is singled out and not notified that their records are being subpoenaed. That concerns me a great deal. And does that justify it? Now, did I know about this provision, the bill? No. Do I think it needs to be in a funding bill? Not particularly. But do I think getting the governments open is important?

11:48Yes, I do. But I was unaware of the provision, so. Well, there's an amendment that will be introduced. I'm not asking a question. Mr. Chairman, I'm not asking you a question. Let me finish my statement. and then you'll have an opportunity. There will be an amendment proposed to remove what I think is a deeply insidious provision. I think it is outrageous, outrageous for these Republican senators to effectively guarantee themselves million-dollar paydays. Retroactive, retroactive provision in this bill that very clearly applies to them. The removal of all relevant immunity defenses on the part of the United States government.

12:37This is insanity to allow this provision to go forward. And I would hope that my Republican colleagues would join us in supporting the removal of this provision. At a minimum, we ought to be able to find common ground on that. So with that, Madam Chair, I yield back.

12:54Ben Meiselas:Here's how some of the Democratic senators were talking about this. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote, this is outrageous. Another reason the CR should not pass. It creates a new offense tailored perfectly to allow Trump to write a government check of millions of dollars to eight Republican senators. GOP leader Thune just made eight of his colleagues rich off the taxpayer money. And by the way, did the eight Democrats in the Senate who voted for this, were they aware of this? Were they familiar with what was going down? Did they give a crap about any of this? Democratic Senator Captain Mark Kelly, after Senator Chris Murphy, Senator Kelly goes, Republican Senator slipped this nugget into the last night, rigging the legal system to give$500 ,000 or more to each of them because someone followed the facts and looked at their phone records.

13:54Ben Meiselas:That's your money, folks. And again, nobody wiretapped them. Nobody listened to their phone calls. Nobody went through their emails. Quite literally, it was their phone number and the duration of the call in connection with a finite period of time relating to the January 6th insurrection. And that was it. Here's how it was described by the times because the provision is retroactive to 2022. It would appear to make eligible eight Republican lawmakers whose phone records were subpoenaed by investigators for Mr. Smith as he examined efforts by Donald Trump to obstruct the results of the 2020 presidential election.

14:37Ben Meiselas:Each violation would be worth at least$500 ,000 in any legal claim, according to the bill language. The bill would also sharply limit the way the government could resist such a claim, taking away any government claims of sovereign immunity to fight a lawsuit over the issue. It would remove all of the defenses that would normally be asserted by the government, providing a clear path just to claim$500 ,000 each. The Republican senators who want this money, Lindsey Graham, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Haggerty, Josh Howley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Loomis, and Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania also had his phone record subpoena would be not eligible because this provision is just for senators.

15:28Ben Meiselas:Here's what Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had to say about it. By the way, what I liked about leader Jeffries last night is that he took the witness stand as well. And he was, I think, asserting strongly and powerfully the position of the Democrats here. But here's what he said about this provision. Let's play this clip. House Democrats are going to offer an amendment before the Rules Committee to get that self-dealing sick provision out of the spending agreement. The notion that eight Republican senators signed off by John Thune and the Republicans, apparently in the Senate and in the House, would give themselves the ability, essentially, to rip millions of taxpayer dollars away from the American people so they could line their pockets because these people were insurrectionist sympathizers is insanity.

16:26And we're going to tattoo that provision just like we're going to tattoo the Republican health care crisis on the foreheads of every single House Republican who dares vote for this bill.

16:38Ben Meiselas:Well, there you have it, folks. Can you realize just how offensive it is that the Republicans are doing that? By the way, here's one of the things that went down as well. This shutdown deal includes a ban on hemp products that none of its negotiators debated in public. And as this one account says, it basically effectively bans all hemp THC products in the United States. And look, I have a, let me be clear. I have a lot of concern about the way these products are marketed. It also seems like they're targeting children. That's where my problem is. I know a lot of people, though, who use CBD, hemp-related products, THC, CBD, hemp stuff to help their chronic illnesses.

17:26Ben Meiselas:And I don't want that banned. If you wanted to address this issue, in my opinion, address the marketing that seems to sometimes target children and kids. And that's not what it's intended for. but I think that this is something that slipped in. It's gonna destroy an entire industry. And by the way, if you're going to destroy the industry like this and potentially impact a lot of Americans who use this for their chronic pain, why hide it though? Like why not do it in public, transparently, talk about it, hold hearings about it, let people know and then there could be a deliberative process but what the hell is this crap?

18:06Ben Meiselas:Wait, let me know what you think. hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million. Thanks for watching.

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