{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-joins-bill-to-repeal-senate-republicans-cash-grab-in-government-funding-bill/", "Padilla Joins Bill to Repeal Senate Republicans\u2019 Cash Grab in Government Funding Bill", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, joined Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and 25 other Senate colleagues in introducing the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that would repeal a provision \u2014 quietly added into the Senate government funding bill at the last minute by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) \u2014 that allows certain Senate Republicans to sue to collect taxpayer funds from the Department of Justice (DOJ). This secretive provision could enable some Senators to sue to collect $500,000 for each instance in which DOJ acquired their phone records during lawful investigations.\n\nThese provisions will specifically benefit eight Republican Senators, each of whom could collect at least $1 million in taxpayer money.\n\n\u201cAs Americans across the country struggled to feed their families and saw their health care costs skyrocket, Senate Republicans were trying to line their pockets with taxpayer funds,\u201d said Senator Padilla. \u201cPresident Trump and his allies are turning the Justice Department into their personal ATM while turning a blind eye to working families. We cannot allow these Senate Republicans to carry out their cash grab behind closed doors.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile Democrats were fighting to make health care more affordable and help working families put food on the table, Senate Republicans were focused on taxpayer-funded windfalls for themselves. Let\u2019s be crystal clear: negotiating a $500,000 windfall for yourself while refusing to help everyday Americans is wrong and deserves to be called out,\u201d said Senator Heinrich. \u201cOur bill is about accountability, transparency, and fighting for working families. The Senate must take this bill up and pass it now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile we were fighting to lower health care costs and keep food on the table for hardworking Americans, Senate Republicans were slipping a taxpayer-funded payout for themselves into the government funding bill,\u201d said Senator Kelly. \u201cIt\u2019s a political cash grab \u2014 plain and simple, and our bill puts an end to it. Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that ripping off American taxpayers is bad policy.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, the Anti-Cash Grab Act:\n\nRepeals section 213 of division C of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026.\n\nRemoves a private right of action allowing Senators to retroactively collect $500,000 or more for data that federal investigators legally obtained.\n\nBlocks millions in taxpayer-funded cash kickbacks to Senate Republicans.\n\nThis bill does not preclude making legitimate reforms to notification requirements regarding Senate data in future, separate legislation.\n\nIn addition to Senator Padilla, the Anti-Cash Grab Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).\n\nA one-pager on the bill is available here.\n\nFull text of the bill is available here.\n\n###", 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.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-joins-bill-to-repeal-senate-republicans-cash-grab-in-government-funding-bill/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.611400093883276, "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"}