Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee added Congresswoman Leger Fernández’s No Payola Act as an amendment to the appropriations bill. 

The amendment would block the “payola” scheme that provides a payout to U.S. Senators whose phone records were released pursuant to a court order and warrant during the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into Trump’s election interference. Leger Fernández has repeatedly called out Republicans for voting for the “payola” and refusing to repeal it.

“The Payola provision is corruption of the highest order,” said Leger Fernández. “I first offered my amendment to strip the provision in November. In the Rules Committee yesterday and today, I raised the fact that Republicans were willing to compensate Senators whose records were searched because of a court warrant, but were not willing to pay compensation to U.S. citizens who’ve been arrested and detained without court order, without a warrant and without any probable cause.”

But Leger Fernández made clear the fight for accountability is not over.

“While I'm glad that the House Rules Committee added this amendment to strip the Senators of their payola during floor debate this morning, I will continue to call for accountability and justice for the citizens who’ve been arrested and detained by ICE officers,” she said. “No citizen should be sitting in an immigration facility, and we must compensate citizens for the violation of their constitutional rights. Remember, corruption is contagious and the carrier of the disease is Donald Trump — Senators just wanted in on the grift. Today, we take an important step to roll back the corruption that has defined this Republican government since day one.”

Background

In November 2025, Senate Republicans snuck a provision in the continuing resolution funding bill to deposit millions of taxpayer dollars into at least eight U.S. Senators’ personal bank accounts. Under this payola, a Senator whose phone records were searched pursuant to a subpoena issued by a grand jury can receive $500,000 each time their record is searched and accessed. 

When the House Rules Committee held a hearing and markup on the continuing resolution, Congresswoman Leger Fernández offered an amendment to strip the payola provision. House Republicans on the Rules Committee rejected the amendment and the payola provision became law.

Congresswoman Leger Fernández then introduced the No Payola Act to repeal the payola so that Senators cannot receive this payout. On January 22, she introduced another amendment to allow U.S. citizens who are wrongfully arrested and detained by ICE without a warrant to receive the same amount of payment the Senators were getting. If Senators could be paid when there was a court warrant, U.S. citizens deserved to be paid when ICE violated citizens constitutional rights without a warrant.

Earlier today, House Republicans rejected Leger Fernández’s amendment to provide compensation to American citizens who have been wrongfully detained by ICE without a warrant—even as they had been willing to hand themselves taxpayer-funded payouts. If Republicans believe Senators deserve compensation, then Americans whose constitutional rights are violated by ICE deserve it first.