Republicans propose $30 million in stopgap for lawmaker security
Published in Political News
WASHINGTON — Republicans unveiled a plan Tuesday to boost congressional security by $30 million, adding that amount to the stopgap spending bill they’re proposing. But discussions about how to keep lawmakers safe are not done, they said.
House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said the funds would shore up an existing pool of money that allows Capitol Police to enter mutual aid agreements with local law enforcement.
The “plus up” would support “a program where U.S. Capitol Police reimburses local law enforcement to provide security, traditionally in a member’s district,” Steil said Tuesday as he left a House Republican conference meeting, where he briefed his colleagues on existing security programs and potential enhancements.
The plan emerged in the wake of the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at an event at a college in Utah last week, raising concerns about political violence and lawmakers’ own safety. And it comes as government funding is set to expire at the end of the month and the threat of a government shutdown looms.
The White House requested $58 million to fund additional security for the executive and judicial branches, which is also included in the stopgap.
While fear over politicians’ security has been a bipartisan issue in the past, including in June after the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker, Democrats have been critical of congressional Republicans for shutting them out of the conversation.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said Tuesday that no one should be scared to come to work, including members of Congress. But he said Democrats were not involved in finalizing the details of what he described as a “partisan CR.”
“This has not been anything that we have discussed,” Aguilar said at a Democratic leadership news conference, before bill text was released later in the day. “Like everyone, and like you, we look forward to reading it when it’s made public.”
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., said further enhancements to member security could be negotiated as part of the Legislative Branch funding bill, which the House last week sent to a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate measures.
“We have a variety of options. And it really varies member to member as to what kind of threat they feel or how important this is to them or frankly what the local resources are,” Cole said. “But we should get the Leg Branch bill done. If you want to do more or something different, that would be the appropriate vehicle.”
One option would be extending a pilot program launched over the summer that makes available $5,000 per member each month to fund private security. Unless Congress chooses to renew it, the program will lapse at the end of this month.
“We have an opportunity as we look to formalize Leg Branch approps,” Steil said. “That’s part of the conversation I think we’re going to be having as Leg Branch approps is fully negotiated.”
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(David Lerman contributed to this report.)
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