To repeal certain provisions relating to notification to Senate offices regarding legal process on disclosure of Senate data, and for other purposes.
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Would repeal a provision — enacted just weeks earlier — that required internet service providers and the Senate Sergeant at Arms to notify Senate offices in writing before disclosing their data to federal agencies, and would eliminate the right of a Senator to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 per violation if that notice was not given.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would strike Section 213 of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, and all amendments made by that section, rendering them void. That provision had required written notice to a Senate office any time an internet service provider or the Senate Sergeant at Arms received a legal demand — such as a subpoena or court order — seeking access to or disclosure of covered Senate data. It also gave an affected Senator the right to sue the federal government for the greater of $500,000 per violation or actual damages, plus attorney's fees and related costs.
By repealing Section 213 in its entirety, the bill would remove both the notification requirement on providers and the Sergeant at Arms, and the civil remedy available to Senators. No substitute notification mechanism or alternative remedy is created in its place.
Key provisions
- 1Would repeal Section 213 of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026, eliminating the written-notice requirement for legal-process disclosures of Senate data and the Senators' civil action remedy against the federal government.
Who would be affected
U.S. Senators and their individual offices, who would lose the right to advance written notice before their data is disclosed and the right to sue the federal government for violations. Internet service providers serving Senate offices and the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who had been obligated to provide that notice, would no longer carry that duty.
Why it matters
If enacted, Senators would have no statutory right to be notified when a legal process compels disclosure of their office data to a federal agency, and no right to seek $500,000 per-violation damages if that process is bypassed. The repeal removes a recently created layer of congressional-data protection and the only private cause of action available to enforce it.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Repeals Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 (Section 213) (Sec. 1)
Strikes the Senate data-disclosure notification requirement and the $500,000-per-violation civil action remedy for Senators, rendering both void and of no force.
Agencies directed to act
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate.
Official CRS summary
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This bill repeals the authority for a Senator to bring a civil action against the federal government if an internet service provider or the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) accessed or disclosed, or accesses or discloses, data from the Senator's office to provide to a federal agency without following prescribed notice requirements. The authority applies to a qualifying instance occurring on or after January 1, 2022.
The authority for the civil action was enacted in H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, which was signed by the President on November 12, 2026. The relevant provision requires written notice from the internet service provider or the SAA to the Senate office upon receipt of any legal process seeking access or disclosure of covered data. A Senator affected by a federal violation of the provision may sue the federal government for the greater of $500,000 per violation or the actual damages, plus attorney's fees and related costs.
Legislative subjects
Civil actions and liability; Congress; Government ethics and transparency, public corruption; Government information and archives; Members of Congress; Senate