Heinrich Unveils Anti-Cash Grab Act to Repeal Provision Allowing Senators to Sue with Taxpayer Dollars
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch and a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, appeared on MS Now’s Chris Jansing Reports today to unveil the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that will repeal a provision — quietly added into the Senate government funding bill by U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) -- that allows certain Republican Senators to collect $500,000 for each phone record that was lawfully subpoenaed.
Heinrich also reacted to the U.S. House of Representatives vote to release the Epstein files and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House today.
On Heinrich’s Anti-Cash Grab Act
Chris Jansing: “You unveiled new legislation today to strip a provision in the government funding bill that allows senators to sue the government if their phone records are investigated without informing them. Why do you think this is important?”
Senator Heinrich: “Well, at the 11th hour, an Easter egg was tucked into that spending bill that will virtually guarantee that eight senators who were part of a legitimate investigation — where a grand jury subpoenaed certain government records — will get millions of dollars of taxpayer money. They literally went back in time and retroactively changed the standard. So, it pretty much guarantees that this small group of senators will get millions of dollars in damages. I think that's outrageous at a time when people are struggling to pay for their groceries, they're losing their health insurance, and senators are going to get millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars. That's just bonkers.”
On the U.S. House of Representatives voting to release the Epstein files
Jansing: “Senator, would you support using Unanimous Consent to pass the Epstein measure, or would you rather get a full vote, get lawmakers on the record?”
Heinrich: “Well, I think we should go on the record, but I would be happy to have the vote either way. The reality is we don't have to have a vote for these documents to be released. The president has all the power in the world to release these documents, and the fact that he has spent so many months trying to gum up the process in the House, trying to slow this down, he could just do this today.”
Jansing: “Do you believe the bill to force the release will get a vote in the Senate if it passes the House today, and when? If so?”
Heinrich: “Well, I think if Republican leadership tries to bottle this up in the Senate, the same sort of support is going to build over time. I don't know that that's something that in the long run can be successful. People expect transparency on this issue now, and so we should just put it on the floor and have a vote.”
On Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House
Jansing: “The U.S. intelligence community assessed that the Crown Prince approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. The president suggested that MBS didn't know anything. I wonder what you make of the meeting today.”
Heinrich: “Well, I'll tell you what I think of this entire visit. And in my home state of New Mexico, we have a saying that goes a little bit like, ‘tell me who you hang around with, and I'll tell you who you are.’ And the fact that this president had MBS to the White House says everything you need to know, not just about MBS, but about President Trump.”
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