Sen. Lindsey Graham held up shutdown deal over provision letting him and others sue DOJ

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats have reached a deal to fund most of the government for the rest of the year. But for the past 24 hours, one of Trump’s closest allies, Senator Lindsey Graham, has blocked the Senate from quickly voting on the spending package.

Graham, R-S.C., dismissed the bipartisan deal as a “bad deal” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other Department of Homeland Security personnel. He is also furious over language in the deal that would repeal a provision allowing him and other Republican senators to sue the Justice Department for potentially millions of dollars.

Graham was among eight Senate Republicans who would uniquely benefit from the provision, which allows senators to sue if their phone records were subpoenaed as part of an investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election without their knowledge. The investigation sought recordings of phone calls, not the content of the calls or messages.

“I want a notification. What senator wouldn’t want to know they’re looking at your phone?” Graham told reporters Thursday evening after saying he would not agree to a quick vote on the funding deal.

“If you were abused, you believe you were abused, your phone records were taken illegally, you should have your day in court. It’s on you to prove it,” Graham added. “Every senator should want to make sure this never happens again.”

Last fall, as part of the deal to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history, Graham managed to insert into the package a provision allowing senators to sue the federal government if their data is obtained without informing them.

This provision sparked bipartisan outrage in the House, particularly because it only applies to senators. Like Graham, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., also had access to his phone records as part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s “Arctic Frost” investigation.

House leaders and negotiators repealed the Graham provision in their sweeping six-bill funding package that cleared the lower house last week. And Senate negotiators kept the repeal provision in their stopgap bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the next two weeks.

In that deal, senators agreed to separate DHS from a longer-term funding program to buy time to negotiate reforms to the agency. Graham believes it’s not necessary and said an investigation is already underway into the death of Alex Pretti, a Minnesota man who was shot and killed by federal agents.

“I’ve never felt so good that we can find a way forward, but not in this way. ICE agents are not infallible, but I appreciate what they do. I’ve never been more offended than I am right now by what’s being said about these people. … They’re being demonized. They’re being spit on. They can’t sleep at night,” Graham told reporters Thursday night. “So let’s have a debate. Is this a Stephen Miller problem? Is this a Kristi Noem problem? Or is this a problem that is the result of four years of open, uncontrolled borders that have ruined the country?”

Graham, 70, is seeking a fifth six-year term in the Senate this year and faces a primary challenge from the right from Paul Dans, a former first-term Trump official who later led the conservative policy initiative known as Project 2025, as well as self-funded businessman Mark Lynch. Trump endorsed Graham for re-election last year.

Early in his Senate career, Graham worked closely with Democrats on immigration reform, but he has moved to the right on the issue in the Trump era.

Friday morning there seemed to be a thaw. Graham took to the Senate floor and said he was lifting his hold on the funding plan, provided he was promised a vote on his sanctuary cities bill in the next two weeks as the two sides negotiate DHS reforms. Graham also said he wanted a timely vote on his revised provision on Arctic Frost, which he said he changed so there would be “no enrichment on my part or anyone else.”

But he had harsh words for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who he said repealed his provision in the House without consulting him. “President Johnson, I will not forget this. I have many good friends in the House,” Graham said in his speech. “If you think I’m going to give up, you really don’t know me.”

Just before 4 p.m. ET Friday, senators agreed to vote on the funding plan. In addition to taking aim at Johnson, Graham also expressed frustration with Trump, who made the deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats.

“I’m an ally of the White House; I don’t belong to them,” Graham told NBC News after his speech.

He later told a group of reporters: “The White House is talking to Schumer, great. Well, someone has to talk to me. I worked too hard to get here.”

“I’m a senator. I really like President Trump, he didn’t negotiate with me,” he continued. “When we have this debate in two weeks about the response to DHS, I want a seat at the table, I want a vote.”