(NEXSTAR) — One day after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, several members of Congress say they’re concerned for their safety amid an uptick in political violence and threats.
Wednesday’s deadly shooting at Utah Valley University is the latest in a series of attacks involving political violence, including a pair of shootings in June that left former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark dead and another state lawmaker and his wife severely injured.
“The list goes on and on and on,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Connecticut), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I don’t feel nearly as safe as I did 10 years ago.”
“It’s just a risky deal,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee). “Your head’s on a swivel all the time.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said she has chosen to pause public events.
“I have local police right now sitting outside my offices in South Carolina to be a deterrence,” Mace said.
“I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, any elected official across the country, if you are vocal, your life is at risk,” she said. “And I have to deal with children who think they’re going to be murdered at school. I have to deal with employees right now who are afraid to come to work.”
In July, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- Louisiana) launched a pilot program to increase the security allowances for House lawmakers. It doubles the amount of funding lawmakers can use for security at their homes, from $10,000 to $20,000. It also allows them to use up to $5,000 a month for personal security in public, including hiring security guards. That’s an increase from $150 monthly.
“We’ve got to protect people who run for public office, or no one will,” Johnson told reporters Thursday.
The pilot program runs through September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. So far, only about 20 lawmakers have taken advantage, Johnson said, but more have come to him with concerns since Wednesday’s shooting.
House leaders are now reviewing how security can be improved and which options the government can afford, he added.
“We’ve seen estimates that if you provided a complete, full security detail, as it’s known, to every 435 members of the House, I mean, it would cost billions of dollars, and we’d have to hire about 5,000 additional federal police,” Speaker Johnson said. “It’s not even a possibility.”
Even if the additional funding from the pilot program stays in place, Burchett said he worries it still won’t be enough.
“We’re going to have to have real threat assessments done,” Burchett said. “And I just feel like… something really bad is going to happen before we get something really done up here, I’m afraid.”
So far this year, Capitol Police have tracked nearly 14,000 assessments of threatening and concerning behavior, up from 9,000 in all of 2024, Speaker Johnson said earlier this month.
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