Top House Democrats asked Speaker Mike Johnson Monday to increase the amount of funding available for lawmakers’ security following the weekend shootings of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota.
“We strongly urge you to immediately direct the Sergeant at Arms to take all necessary steps to protect House members throughout the country,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO. “At the same time, it is imperative that we substantially increase the Member Representational Allowance (MRA) to support additional safety and security measures in every single office.”
The MRA is the funding each lawmaker receives to pay for staff salaries, security expenses and other operations costs. Boosting that fund could allow members to invest more in security without cutting into payroll, though any increase would require an act of Congress.
Under current policy, House lawmakers can use taxpayer funds to buy bulletproof vests and some other security equipment, as well as to hire security personnel for events such as town halls, to guard their district offices during business hours, and to accompany them on official business.
A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the 2017 shooting at a House Republican practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, paying for security was deemed “an ordinary and necessary reimbursable expense,” according to the Committee on House Administration and the Congressional Handbook. Threats against members of Congress have spiked in recent years, and Capitol Police established satellite offices outside of Washington in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection in part to respond to the threats.
Lawmakers have been on edge since the attack amid revelations that other Democratic lawmakers including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) were named on lists connected to the suspect in the murders of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.
Jeffries and Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said that member safety had to be an “area of common ground” with Republicans, citing “assassination attempts” that have affected members of both parties.
“We must act to protect each other and preserve this great American institution,” they wrote.
