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House increases security funding ahead of members' return to their home districts after attack on Minnesota lawmakers

House increases security funding ahead of members' return to their home districts after attack on Minnesota lawmakers

CNN3 days ago
The House is increasing security funding and resources for lawmakers after a June attack on Minnesota state lawmakers reignited the long-standing question of how to best keep members and their families safe when they're away from Washington.
Members will have $20,000 to increase the security of their homes, up from the current $10,000 allotment, according to a release from the Committee on House Administration obtained by CNN, as well as $5,000 a month to pay for personal security through the end of the fiscal year.
The security personnel would be allowed to accompany members in their districts and protect their homes. Currently, members only had $150 a month for security monitoring purposes.
The increase in funding comes as House lawmakers will soon return home for a five-week work period in their districts, where coordination between US Capitol Police and local law enforcement has consistently presented challenges. Lawmakers have called for more security measures in the face of ongoing threats against politicians.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that this is a 'pilot program' that will be evaluated after September 30.
'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,' Johnson said.
House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, who led the effort, told CNN he worked with his Democratic counterparts to reallocate available funds to increase options for lawmakers.
'We announced it as soon as we were able to reach agreement, outline the funds and delineate the program,' Steil said.
There have been heightened concerns over public officials' security in the wake of the deadly attack in Minnesota. At the time, congressional lawmakers pressed law enforcement officials on how to keep their families safe amid an increasingly volatile political environment.
In 2024 alone, US Capitol Police investigated more than 9,000 threats against lawmakers, marking an 83% increase from the year prior and part of a trend of growing threats against public officials.
While the Minnesota attack has placed a renewed focus on how law enforcement addresses high-profile threats of violence against public officials, lawmakers have long called for an overhaul of security practices, with focus on resources dedicated to information sharing.
A spate of recent attacks has seen House Majority Leader Steve Scalise seriously wounded by a gunman targeting a congressional baseball team practice in 2017, lawmakers across the Capitol at risk during the January 6, 2021, riot at US Capitol and Paul Pelosi attacked in his California home in 2022. And mere months before the 2024 presidential election, Trump was targeted in two apparent assassination attempts.
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Democratic socialist in Maryland legislature ready to ‘fight like hell,' says party moving in his direction
Democratic socialist in Maryland legislature ready to ‘fight like hell,' says party moving in his direction

Yahoo

time25 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Democratic socialist in Maryland legislature ready to ‘fight like hell,' says party moving in his direction

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Mamdani names a new campaign manager as part of staff expansion
Mamdani names a new campaign manager as part of staff expansion

CNN

time25 minutes ago

  • CNN

Mamdani names a new campaign manager as part of staff expansion

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Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.
Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.

USA Today

time26 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Republicans in Congress head home to angry voters. So much for summer break.

The Jeffrey Epstein case has grown into a full-blown problem for Republicans who were already failing Americans. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario as 2026 midterm elections loom. What are you doing during your summer vacation? U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson apparently plans to spend his six-week break trying to get his story straight about the Epstein files fiasco. That's a daunting challenge for the Republican from Louisiana, who has flip-flopped from calling for "transparency" on the issue to sending the House home early on July 22 to shut down Republican attempts to release those files. But that's life when you unconditionally surrender the Article I powers that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress as a coequal branch of government to a scandal-prone presidency held by Donald Trump. If Johnson's vacation were a scary summer movie, we'd have to call it 'I Know What You Did With the Epstein Files.' Things don't look much better for the Republicans who are in control of the U.S. Senate. Trump wants that chamber to work through the summer break so it can rubber-stamp his nominees for various positions. If this also were a horror film, it would be a sequel – "No Way Out, Again" – because Trump did the same thing with a compliant Senate during his first term in 2018. So here are the options for congressional Republicans from now until early September: Go home and endure town halls with constituents angry about Trump's broken promise to release the Epstein files and the looming negative impacts of his signature budget bill. Or stay in Washington and answer a growing rush of questions as the Epstein news keeps beating like a "Tell-Tale Heart." Scary stuff, indeed. Epstein files put a stop to Republicans' victory lap Johnson has served less as a speaker of the House and more like a servant to Trump's expectations. And that was working for him. He helped pass Trump's budget bill, which slashes health care for the working poor while offering short-term tax relief for some in return for permanent tax cuts for America's wealthiest people. He did that as well with Trump's "rescission" package, which canceled federal funding that Johnson's own House had previously approved. He and Trump were looking forward to a victory lap on all that, despite consistent polling that shows a majority of American voters don't care for it at all. But the scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, who has been dead for six years, will not pass away. Trump exploited conspiracy theories on the reelection campaign trail about his old cruising buddy, a convicted pedophile who died in prison in 2019 during Trump's first term while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. But then Trump, who promised while campaigning in 2024 to release the Department of Justice's files on Epstein, decided recently to keep them secret, enraging his own supporters and putting his Republican allies in Congress in a tight spot. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Attorney General Pam Bondi is reported to have briefed Trump in May that he is mentioned in those very files that his supporters want to see released. So Trump's in a tight spot, too. Johnson's slipshod response to the Epstein secrecy has been to advocate for transparency, which Trump doesn't want, and then revert to presidential servitude by trying to stamp out any attempts at transparency. This has provoked something we rarely see anymore – bipartisanship – as Republican and Democratic members of the House voted together to subpoena the Epstein files. This doesn't look like it will simmer down in six weeks. Americans are clearly unhappy with Trump's Republican regime Republicans are hitting the road with a story that isn't selling well. A July 23 Fox News poll found that 67% of American voters think Trump's administration has not been transparent about Epstein, including 60% of the Republicans surveyed and 56% of Trump's so-called MAGA supporters. And then there's this: Fox News found that 4 out of 5 people in the survey said they were following the Epstein case. We're closing in on the end of July – vacation season – and these people are tuned all the way in on this. Trump's budget bill was also underwater in the poll, with 58% disapproving and 39% in support. That makes for testy town halls, if the Republicans dare to hold them in the next six weeks. And that feels like a lose-lose scenario with the 2026 midterm elections looming ever larger. Face your angry constituents and be ready to go viral on social media, exactly the kind of things that would-be opponents mine for campaign commercials. Or duck and cover and get branded a coward, exactly the kind of thing that would-be opponents exploit for campaign commercials. No matter which way Republicans go, at home or in Washington, they should first ask themselves: Does Trump care about how any of this impacts me and my future in politics, or is he only interested in protecting himself? I think they already know the answer. Trump is – now, in the past, in the future, always – looking out only for himself. That prompts two more questions. Why is he working so hard to keep the Epstein files secret? And do you really want to be on the record helping him with that secrecy if the files are finally released? Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.

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