The Senate greenlit a rules change Thursday night to allow senators to use official office funds for personal security measures — a move driven by concerns about lawmaker security in the wake of last week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune brought the proposal to the floor and it was approved by unanimous consent.
“Every senator will now have additional flexibility to address the security concerns they face as public officials,” said Thune.
He cited the additional $30 million for state and local law enforcement partnerships with Capitol Police that House Republicans included in their stopgap spending bill slated for a vote Friday in the House.
“There’s ongoing bipartisan work to address member security in the legislative branch appropriations bill, which I hope the House and Senate will complete work on in the very near future,” Thune continued.
This move was previewed earlier this week by Senate Rules Committee Chair Mitch McConnell, who told his GOP colleagues at a lunch meeting that he heard their concerns and interest in more flexibility on security expenses and outlined the path ahead for the rules change. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida also wrote a letter to Thune, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, urging action to expand the use of Senate office accounts to pay for some security measures.
But Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, indicated in a brief interview earlier this week that he believed simply changing the rules to allow existing funds to pay for security was insufficient.
Padilla said in a statement Thursday he agreed to let the rules change go through based on commitments from Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to work on “new security options” and get “real” funding for enhanced security.
Without further action, Padilla added, the change would force senators to “choose between either paying for office staff and operations or paying for their own personal security.”
The Senate-passed legislative branch spending bill would include funding for a pilot program for increased security for lawmakers in their home states and additional security investments are possible as the bill moves through a bipartisan and bicameral negotiation process in the wake of the Kirk assassination.
Thune also said Thursday that he’s working with the Senate sergeant-at-arms to explore additional options for security for senators.
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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