{"id":52532,"date":"2025-11-17T11:42:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T16:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/?post_type=act&p=52532"},"modified":"2026-04-08T01:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T05:00:59","slug":"tell-congress-no-500k-checks-for-senators","status":"publish","type":"act","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/vi\/actions\/tell-congress-no-500k-checks-for-senators\/","title":{"rendered":"Tell Congress: No $500k Checks for Senators"},"template":"","class_list":["post-52532","act","type-act","status-publish","hentry","act_type-petition"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":"","act_type":40,"location":46,"related_issues":[149],"related_work":false,"button_text":"","secondary_link":"","hero_cta_type":"none","hero_cta":null,"hero_cta_text":"","start_date_time":"","end_date_time":""},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}],"platform":"action_network","platform_id":"action_network:f91f7072-2ff4-476a-8fc0-92a55a29c267","tm_actions_platform":{"event_type":"petitions","platform_url":"","summary":"No writing $500,000 checks to yourselves! Repeal Senate Republicans' self-serving cash grab now.\r\n\r\nInvestigators shouldn\u2019t have to worry about political retaliation or costing taxpayers huge sums of money just for doing their jobs. And elected officials should NOT be profiting off the people they serve.","description":"

When the Senate caved over Trump\u2019s government shutdown, they also quietly slipped something even more outrageous into the final bill \u2013 and lawmakers from both parties are rightfully sounding the alarm.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

Buried in this massive bill is a provision that\u2019d let certain senators sue for at least $500,000 of taxpayer money <\/strong>because their phone records were used as evidence in the Jan. 6 investigation. [1] \r\n<\/p>\r\n

And already, Sen. Lindsey Graham is bragging that he\u2019ll use this to sue the DOJ for over one million taxpayer dollars in order to \u201cmake it so painful, no one ever does this again.\u201d [2]\r\n<\/p>\r\n

Investigating powerful people for wrongdoing shouldn\u2019t be \u201cpainful\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 it\u2019s one of our government\u2019s most important jobs!\r\n<\/p>\r\n

Investigators shouldn\u2019t have to worry about political retaliation or costing taxpayers huge sums of money just for doing their jobs \u2013 and elected officials should NOT be profiting off the people they serve.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

But here's the good news: there's bipartisan momentum to right this wrong. <\/strong>Lawmakers in both parties are condemning this provision \u2013 including Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said the House will move quickly to repeal it. [3]<\/p>

Add your name to tell Congress: No writing $500,000 checks to yourselves!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\r\n

[1] https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/11\/13\/senate-republicans-phones-sue-jack-smith-00651463
[2] Ibid.
[3] https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2025\/11\/12\/house-leaders-seek-repeal-of-senate-push-for-gop-payouts\/<\/p>","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/petitions\/photos\/000\/709\/249\/original\/CC_Petition_Senate_Payout_Petition.jpg","browser_url":"https:\/\/act.commoncause.org\/petitions\/tell-congress-no-500k-checks-for-senators","address":"","timezone":"","latitude":"","longitude":"","is_virtual":false,"start_date":"","end_date":"","embed":"