Senators are exploring options for boosting member security through the government funding process following the shootings of state lawmakers in Minnesota and threats against multiple members of the House and Senate.
At a Senate Appropriations Committee markup Thursday of the fiscal 2026 bill to fund the operations of Congress and support agencies, Legislative Branch subcommittee chair Markwayne Mullin said lawmakers were continuing to hash out details of a “test program,” to be unveiled as soon as August, “to properly address security concerns for members, not just here but also in their home states.”
The Oklahoma Republican also said senators were “looking at technology security concerns in the members’ houses, because a lot of us are here while our families are at home” — but that it would take a couple months before he and others are able to share the full costs for such initiatives.
“Before we just put money at it, we want to know what it is actually going to cost so we can properly appropriate it,” said Mullin. “I think this is something we probably need to do and I am fully committed to following through in this process.”
It mirrors an ongoing dynamic in the House, where Republican and Democratic appropriators say they are actively working with leadership and Capitol law enforcement officers before requesting money for launching new programs.
Back in the Senate, the Appropriations Committee approved the legislative branch funding bill 26-1, with just Sen. Kennedy (R-La.) voting in opposition. The measure would provide $7.1 billion in the fiscal year that begins in October — that’s slightly above the current funding level. The Senate bill does not touch any House funding, under longstanding tradition.
The measure also would maintain a longstanding freeze on a cost-of-living pay raise for members of Congress.
Senate appropriators would fund the Government Accountability Office at $812 million, appearing to reject the nearly fifty percent cut to the federal watchdog agency sought by the House. The Senate legislative branch spending bill also would provide $852 million for the Library of Congress, $84 million more than the House bill. These congressional support agencies have been under attack by the Trump administration in recent months, especially the Library of Congress, where President Donald Trump unilaterally fired Librarian Carla Hayden and Copyright Registrar Shira Perlmutter.
Full committee ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) outlined, but then withdrew, an amendment that would allow congress — not the president — to select the heads of the LOC, GAO and GPO, saying she understood Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) was committed to continuing to work with her on the issue.
The measure is now set for floor action, but there is still not a broader agreement in place on funding levels to keep federal agencies running beyond the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline. Congress could be forced to resort to passing a stopgap funding patch in the fall to keep Congress and federal agencies running with flat funding.
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