{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-duckworth-join-heinrich-kelly-to-introduce-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-arctic-frost-provision", "Durbin, Duckworth Join Heinrich, Kelly To Introduce Anti-Cash Grab Act To Repeal \u2018Arctic Frost\u2019 Provision", "2025-11-20", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Richard J. Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", "durbin", "https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "The Anti-Cash Grab Act repeals last-minute provision allowing Republican senators to collect $500,000 per lawfully subpoenaed phone record\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in leading 24 Senate colleagues to introduce the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that will repeal a provision \u2014 quietly added into the Senate government funding bill by U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) at the last minute \u2014 that allows Senators to collect $500,000 for every phone record lawfully obtained.\n\n\u201cAfter shutting down the government, Senate Republicans took further advantage of the chaos they created to sneak in a $500,000 taxpayer-funded payout for Senators into the government funding deal. While working families were worrying about how to put food on the table, Senate Republicans were scheming about how to personally enrich themselves,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cThe Anti-Cash Grab Act would nullify this provision in the government funding deal and prevent lawmakers from attempting to line their own pockets with taxpayer dollars.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile Republicans refused to lift a finger to stop health care premiums from skyrocketing, provide SNAP benefits to hungry children or do anything that actually improves people\u2019s lives, they had no problem sneaking themselves a bonus on the taxpayers\u2019 dime,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cRepublicans\u2019 shameless decision to line their own pockets while Illinois families struggle to make ends meet is despicable and un-American. Not shaking down the American taxpayer shouldn\u2019t be a partisan issue, which is why I\u2019m proud to join Senator Durbin and our colleagues in urging the Senate to pass the Anti-Cash Grab Act to protect our tax dollars from political games.\u201d\n\nThe introduction of the Anti-Cash Grab Act comes after Durbin has repeatedly called for former Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the \u201cArctic Frost\u201d investigation, in which the phone records of eight Republican Senators were subpoenaed as part of an inquiry into President Trump\u2019s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. On October 30, Durbin led all Senate Judiciary Democrats in sending a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) calling on him to allow Smith to testify and urged Chairman Grassley to request that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release Volume II of the unredacted \u201cFinal Report of the Special Counsel\u2019s Investigations and Prosecutions,\u201d which was submitted to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2025.\n\nIn addition to Durbin, Heinrich, and Kelly, the Anti-Cash Grab Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brain Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).\n\nA one-page summary of the bill is here.\n\nThe full text of the bill is here.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-duckworth-join-heinrich-kelly-to-introduce-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-arctic-frost-provision"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.3046570606529713, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}