Introduction:

 

In order to end the longest government shutdown in the United States history, the United States Senate passed H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026. This bill passed the Senate, House, and was signed by President Donald J. Trump into law. Yet, in the hours before this bill was signed, a new provision, Section 213, was written into the bill and that is the cause of so much controversy and suspicion surrounding the bill. 

 

What Are The Provisions Under Section 213?

 

Section 213 Division C of H.R. 5371 created a special and legal protection for United States senators. One key provision that protects senators is that the bill requires federal agencies such as the Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation to notify Senate offices before they comply with a subpoena, warrant, or other legal process that seeks Senate data. If the senators do not receive ample notice, they have the right to file a civil lawsuit against the United States for a maximum amount of $500,000. This also only applies to senators and not the general public or even congressmen and women of the House of Representatives. 

 

Why Did Senators Write This Into The Bill?

 

On October 25th Senate republicans disclosed that eight republican senators and one republican congressman had been subpoenaed by the FBI and their phone records had been secretly reviewed. Their phone records were subpoenaed by the FBI under Special Council Jack Smith to investigate whether these political officials had any involvement with the attack on the capitol on January 6, 2021. The records were held by telecom companies, therefore, investigators did not need to notify the senators directly of the subpoena. Nothing incriminating was found in the subpoenaed phones records, which only contained data from January 4, 2021-January 7, 2021. Due to this event, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) added this provision to H.R. 5371. It was quickly opposed by various senators such as Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). Nevertheless, amendments proposed to repeal this section never passed and the senators felt pressured to reopen the government, so the bill passed in the Senate.

 

Austin Scott and H.R. 6019:

 

Austin Scott (R-GA-8) was one of the first members of the House of Representatives to oppose Section 213. He sits on the Rules Committee and on November 11, 2025 during the committee’s debate of H.R. 5371 he stated that the section needed to be repealed. However, he did not want to repeal it at that time, and send it back to the Senate. If that happened, he feared the Senate wouldn’t pass H.R. 5371, and the government would remain shutdown.

 

Therefore, after the bill was passed in the House and approved by the President, Austin proposed H.R. 6019, which is called “To repeal certain provisions relating to notification to Senate offices regarding legal process on disclosure of Senate data, and for other purposes.” The bill would repeal all of Section 213 from law. The problem is, how will senate republicans vote for this law, and will they repeal it? It’s unknown if the bill will pass and what republicans will support it, however, there are senators who oppose Section 213 as well. In fact, S. 3195, the Anti-Cash Grab Act, which was proposed by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), has the same purpose of H.R. 6019 in repealing Section 213.

 

Link to H.R. 5371:

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371/text/eas

 

Link to H.R. 6019:

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6019

 

*Passed the House*

 

Link to S. 3195:

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3195