house Leaders agreed to expand a pilot program for members to hire individual security personnel for another two months and increase the monthly spending to $10,000.
The news comes as lawmakers’ anxiety about political violence following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The pilot program announced in July that a pair of Minnesota Democratic lawmakers and their spouse were shot and killed for a month. State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, while State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife survived the shooting.
House Executive Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, Wisconsin Republican and New York Democrat Ranking Member Joe Morell house Hiring of individual security members will be extended to November 21, the end date of the cessation of government funding house Voting will be held on Friday.
The bill, known as an ongoing resolution or “CR,” is largely kept shut down at the current spending level at the start of the new fiscal year to avoid shutdowns
StopGap is released before the announcement and does not include additional funding for the expansion of the pilot program. A spokesman for the House Executive Committee said the extension would be funded by redistributing funds from previous grants, and the total cost would depend on how many members were involved.
house Mike Johnson, the president of Louisiana Republican, told reporters last week that about 20 members participated in the first two months of the pilot program, but more people expressed interest in Kirk after he was assassinated.
During the first two months, monthly allocation of lawmakers can spend $5,000 under the pilot program. As lawmakers negotiate a long-term solution, the next two will double the next two to $10,000.
The Executive Committee leader said Mr. Johnson and house Hakeem Jeffries, a leader of the Democratic Minority Party in New York, approved the expansion of the pilot program and doubled its monthly allocation.
In addition to monthly allocations for individual security personnel, members can also spend up to $20,000 on residential security systems. The monthly allocation before the pilot program was $150 to cover maintenance and monitoring of these systems.
In addition, lawmakers agreed to add $30 million to the Mutual Aid program for the “Co-Aid” program, which allows Capitol Police to repay local law enforcement and other partners to help secure lawmakers, especially when they are outside Washington.
While Democrats support security gains in the short-term spending bill, they oppose broader measures because it does not include other policies they are seeking, such as the expanded enhanced Obamacare subsidy that will expire at the end of the year.
Democrats issued counterclaim CR, which included $30 million in co-aid with the Republican planned $30 million, but also provided additional funds specifically house and Senate Security Plan. They include $90 million house The Senate is $66.5 million.
The Senate is also launching a pilot program to provide personal safety to members outside Washington. Currently, it is limited to senators with the highest levels of threat, but the pilot’s goal is to determine whether safety details can be provided to all 100 senators.
