The spending bill approved as part of the package the Senate advanced Monday night to reopen the government includes a provision that would create a legal pathway for senators to sue the government if their phone records are investigated without their notice.
What's significant is the language in the bill appears to be retroactive, meaning that the eight Republican senators who had their phone records subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith as part of his investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election could seek hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune was personally responsible for adding the text to the bill, sources told ABC News.
According to the bill text, senators may seek up to $500,000 in statutory damages if their phone records are subpoenaed without their knowledge.
The language is inside one of the three full-year spending bills that the Senate included in its government funding package. The House is expected to approve the bill as soon as Wednesday.
"Any Senator whose Senate data, or the Senate data of whose Senate office, has been acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed in violation of this section may bring a civil action against the United States if the violation was committed by an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any Federal department or agency," the bill reads.
The language appears to be directly related to complaints by a group of Republican senators that their phone records were subpoenaed without prior notification by Smith as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley released documents earlier this year suggesting that phone records from Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis and Marsha Blackburn on and around the day of the insurrection had been accessed by investigators as part of Smith's investigation.
Last month, attorneys representing Smith sent a letter to Grassley seeking to correct what they call "inaccurate" claims that Smith wiretapped or spied on Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation.
Smith's office sought limited phone toll data from the eight senators and a member of the House in the days surrounding Jan. 6.
While such records would not involve the content of any phone calls or messages, multiple Republicans on the committee incorrectly claimed at the hearing the next day that Smith had "tapped" their phones or "spied" on them.
The bill would likely open a pathway for the eight senators to seek damages from the government for Smith's action.
The provision notably does not include House members. Rep. Mike Kelly, whose records were also subpoenaed as part of Smith's investigation, would not be eligible for damages.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, did not immediately reply to a request for comment from ABC News. But Wyden told the New York Times Times that the provision was hidden in the bill.
Wyden said in a statement to the Times that every American "should have the right to be told if the government spies on them," but added that this bill "takes a reasonable protection against government surveillance and wraps it in an unacceptable giveaway of your tax dollars to Republican senators."