US Senator Graham secures votes on Jan 6 probe, sanctuary cities after blocking government funding deal  

By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham temporarily held up a bipartisan deal to avert a lengthy government shutdown on Friday as he sought to give Republican-aligned groups the ability to sue over an investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters.

The South Carolina Republican had successfully pushed last year for him and other lawmakers to be able to sue for damages over the Biden administration’s January 6 probe, only to see that provision reversed in the massive spending bill.

Lawmakers from both parties had panned the idea as an enrichment scheme for public officials.

Speaking on the Senate floor on Friday, Graham threatened to prevent the Senate from voting on the larger package unless a modified version of that provision gets put to a vote.

The proposal would allow Republican-aligned groups and private citizens targeted by the January 6 probe to sue the government, and it would require phone companies to notify members of Congress when their phone records are subpoenaed.    

He ended his blockade hours later, saying he had secured a promise that the Senate would vote on that proposal some time in the future, along with a separate measure that would require “sanctuary” cities and states to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. 

Graham once vowed to sue the Justice Department for “millions of dollars” after learning that federal investigators had subpoenaed phone records for him and seven other Senate Republicans after the January 6 attack. 

On Friday, he voted for the funding legislation that repeals the ability of senators to sue. 

(Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Cynthia Osterman)