WASHINGTON — House lawmakers will get an increase in funding for security purposes amid a rise in threats toward political figures in recent months.
Members will receive a one-time payment of $20,000 to install security measures at their personal homes, an increase from the current allotment of $10,000. Lawmakers will also receive a monthly payment of $5,000 a month for personal security through the end of the fiscal year.
“As Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I’m working to ensure everyone feels safe in their communities,” Rep. Bryan Steil, who leads the committee responsible for the payments, told the Deseret News in a statement. “The enhancements to member security are a step in the right direction. There is never space for political violence in the United States.”
The enhanced payments come as lawmakers prepare to head home this week for the annual August recess and are not scheduled to return until after Labor Day.
Members have consistently called for increased protections when lawmakers are in their home districts, citing challenges for U.S. Capitol Police when lawmakers are not in Washington. Those calls have increased in recent weeks, especially after a pair of shootings in Minnesota last month that rattled members of both parties.
“The allowance is so that people can have private security if they deem that necessary and then at the end of September we are going to look at that, evaluate all of the data points, how effective it was, how it was utilized and then make decisions going forward. We live in an enhanced threat environment,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Tuesday.
It’s not yet clear whether Senate leaders will soon follow suit, but Republican and Democratic senators have similarly called for enhanced security measures.
Senators held a closed-door security briefing with the Senate sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police in June to share details about recent threats as well as possible solutions to increase security for members. Senators emerging from the meeting said no decisions have been made about how to counter potential threats, but members said there was bipartisan support for increased resources.
The attention to lawmaker security comes as members of Congress have experienced increased threats in recent years, according to data from U.S. Capitol Police.
The agency reported 9,474 concerning statements or direct threats toward lawmakers, including their families and staff, in 2024. That’s a sharp increase from the 8,008 similar threats recorded in 2023 and the 7,501 threats in 2022.