House lawmakers are getting a boost to funds they can use for their own security, including at their homes.
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil announced an “updated Member security framework” at the closed-door House GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning.
It comes in response to growing member demands for protection when they are outside the highly-securitized Capitol grounds, as the U.S. grapples with persistent and escalating political violence.
Those calls only increased after the June shootings in Minnesota that killed a state representative and her husband; wounded a state senator and his wife; and revealed a list of other elected officials who might have also been targets.
The updated framework will double funding for residential security to $20,000 per member to “allow for a more comprehensive suite of security equipment to be installed at their residences,” according to a memo distributed to lawmakers. Members will be able to put $10,000 toward physical upgrades to their residence for security purposes under an existing program.
The funds will flow through an ongoing House Sergeant-at-Arms initiative for securitizing lawmakers’ homes and members’ office accounts will not feel the pinch.
The updates announced Tuesday also detail a massive increase to the “monitoring and maintenance allotment” under this program, from $150 to $5,000 per month through the end of September.
The short-term increase will allow lawmakers to “hire licensed and insured individuals or companies to provide personal security for the remainder of FY2025.” Members would enter into those contracts personally but would have the option of either direct payment from the House Sergeant-at-Arms or reimbursement.
Previously, members who sought personal one-on-one security largely relied on campaign funds, which the Federal Elections Commission has greenlit.
The memo outlining the security funding updates also promises an expansion of partnerships between Capitol Police and state and local law enforcement. Capitol Police has more than 100 mutual aid agreements across the country to coordinate protection for lawmakers’ in-district events, but are looking to lock in more.
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