WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans were divided Wednesday over whether to repeal a controversial provision that could net hefty payouts for a cohort of senators whose call records were collected by federal authorities without notification.

House lawmakers are expected late Wednesday to pass a bill repealing the provision, which sparked outrage from lower-chamber members after it was dropped last-minute into a stopgap funding law to reopen the government.

On the other side of the Capitol, some GOP senators said they would vote to overturn the language. Others raised no issues with the language, arguing accountability was needed for actions taken under the Biden administration. Many declined to stake out a firm position on whether to revoke the measure.

The provision allows senators to file a civil lawsuit against the United States for at least $500,000 per violation if the government searched or subpoenaed their data without notifying them or sought a nondisclosure order or judicial sealing to prevent notification.

Because the measure is retroactive, the language provides a legal pathway for senators who had their call records collected as part of an investigation named “Arctic Frost,” which lawmakers say formed the basis of former John L. “Jack” Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

No clear direction emerged after GOP senators gathered Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune showed no signs of immediately taking up a repeal bill.

Instead, he said senators had a “good conversation” and there would likely be a “more fulsome conversation.”

The South Dakota Republican argued the provision was a “Senate-specific solution.”

“There is a high level of interest in addressing the weaponization of the federal government,” Thune said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to ease the concerns of House Republicans who last week expressed doubts about supporting a bill to reopen the government that offered payouts to senators, said he would pursue the repeal measure this week.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican whose phone records were collected, said he would vote to repeal the measure.

“I just don’t understand why taking taxpayer money is a good idea,” Hawley said. “Who does that deter? That doesn’t deter Jack Smith.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he would vote to repeal the provision and slammed the last-minute adding of it to the funding package. “Whoever put this in had an obligation to tell us about it, and they didn’t,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the senators already had a case under existing law, and there was no need for the provision in the funding bill. “I don’t know how it got there, but I sure am curious to find out,” Kennedy said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, thought there was a lot of “misunderstanding” about the impetus for the language, adding he would not support a repeal. Asked about the six-figure award per violation, Cornyn said one senator spent seven-figures defending themselves.

“Happy to have that continued conversation, but it was in the bill, and everybody should have known about it when they voted on it,” Cornyn said.

Sen. Susan Collins, head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, distanced herself from the provision, telling reporters that Senate leadership put that into the bill and she played no role in it.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he’s willing to listen if there are “modifications that need to be made.”

“But we clearly had to send a message to the executive branch that that type of activity is not acceptable and there is a price to be paid,” Rounds said.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said he’d support repealing the retroactivity clause in the provision.

As it stands, there are at least 10 GOP senators whose data is said to have been collected: Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; Hawley; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Dan Sullivan of Alaska; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida.

Some of those senators have distanced themselves from the provision. That includes Blackburn, whose office said she intended to sue even before the provision was enacted. A day later, Blackburn went on social media and said she supported the effort to repeal the provision.

“As I have previously said, this fight is not about the money. It is about holding the left accountable,” she wrote.

A group of Democrats have embraced the repeal push and rolled out legislation that would do just that, calling it the “Anti-Cash Grab Act.”

“It’s a political cash grab — plain and simple, and our bill puts an end to it,” bill supporter Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a statement. “Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that ripping off American taxpayers is bad policy.”

Meanwhile, Graham has said he would file a lawsuit and voiced support for expanding the ability of people to take legal action when it comes to the Arctic Frost investigation.

“This means organizations, congressmen, staffers and individuals in the private sector who may have been harmed will be provided the same rights,” Graham said on social media.

Lawmakers referenced the call record collection and the lawsuit provision during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday, as they considered a bill they said would strengthen the law to address the government’s use of non-disclosure orders.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said House lawmakers had previously approved of the legislation, but the Senate has rebuffed it out of concerns that it infringes too much on the function of law enforcement.

“So we’re in this great ironic situation where, as a matter of policy, we’ve been advancing a far more civil libertarian, privacy protective position,” Raskin said.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, agreed.

“The entity that rejected this good legislation that we passed is the very entity that said, ‘Oh, but when it happens to us, pay me,’” Jordan said. “So that is the concern, that’s why I think this is so timely.”

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