WASHINGTON — A provision tucked into the the funding package that the Senate passed Monday night as a part of a bipartisan deal to reopen the government would allow senators to sue the federal government for potentially millions of dollars if their data is obtained without being notified.

The legislative language would uniquely benefit eight Republican senators who were recently found to have had their phone records — but not the contents of their calls or messages — accessed as a part of the investigation that led to former special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

While the bill does not explicitly mention Smith’s probe, the language would retroactively apply to data requests that were made on or after Jan. 1, 2022, meaning the request of

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