US House members ask for more security amid fears they’re targets

Pervasive fear among some members of Congress that they will be the targets of further politically motivated violence following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol has led more than 30 of them write a letter to House leaders.

The group sent the letter to the House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, asking for more support over security concerns.

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As the less senior politicians do not have personal protection services provided by the government around the clock, they are asking if they may use their personal allowances for additional security costs in their home districts, such as for hiring local law enforcement or other security personnel.

The letter, first obtained by CBS News, reveals an enduring anxiety and sense of unease among lawmakers. It was sent by the Democratic representatives Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Dean Phillips of Minnesota.

And it was signed by 29 other Democrats who represent states all across the country, including Texas, Rhode Island, Washington, Georgia, Illinois, Alabama and Kansas, and one Republican, the Michigan representative Fred Upton.

“Today, with the expansion of the web and social media sites, so much information about members is accessible in the public sphere, making them easier targets, including home addresses, photos, personal details about members’ families, and real-time information on member attendance at events,” they wrote.

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Fears are heightened in the wake of the Capitol riot on 6 January by supporters of the then president, Donald Trump, after he exhorted them at a rally near the White House beforehand to march on Congress and overturn his election defeat.

White supremacists, rightwing extremists and conspiracy theory followers were among the mob of several thousand that broke into the halls of Congress while the House and Senate were meeting officially to certify Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

The representatives, who spend most of their time in their home districts, wrote that the attack “reminds us of the grim reality that Members of Congress are high-profile public officials, and therefore, face ongoing security threats from the same domestic terror groups that attacked the Capitol”.

The signatories pointed to a “surge of threats and attacks” on members of Congress, including the 2017 shooting that severely wounded the Republican whip, Steve Scalise, at a baseball game practice.

The letter called current rules governing how their personal allowances can be spent as “constrictive and anachronistic” and have not kept up with current threat levels.

The letter was sent as the homeland security department issued a bulletin on Wednesday that the domestic extremists behind the Capitol attack “could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence”.

“We’re all totally freaked out about this,” one House member told the online outlet Politico.

While lawmakers are afforded Capitol police protection while in Washington DC, they do not have the kind of permanent security details that party leadership is assigned.

“Protecting members in their district is much harder because local law enforcement agencies are stretched and limited, and often don’t have sufficient staffing or money to provide regular protection to members,” the letter said.

They added that “current legal statutes make it extremely difficult to prosecute most threats” made against them.

Under current House rules, lawmakers are permitted to use their $1.4m office allowances, known as MRAs, to reimburse themselves for security equipment such as bulletproof vests, as well as funds for security at local public events.

But given raised political tensions, they requested that their allowances should also cover security upgrades at their district offices, local law enforcement or other security personnel, and other security measures to protect them in their homes.

According to the letter, there has been a nearly fivefold increase in threats against members in recent years.

In 2016, there were 902 investigated threats against members; by 2018, the Capitol police chief, Steven Sund, had testified that there were 4,894 threats against members, a number that was on track to rise the following year.

Soon after the riot this month, police officers based at the Capitol briefed lawmakers about plots by armed militias against Democratic party members.

“The idea that everyone is untouchable? No, we’re all touchable now. If there’s a nuclear bomb, we accept we’re probably the first to go. But we never though that a mob would be able to get into the Capitol,” a House staff member told CBS.

Later on Thursday, Pelosi said lawmakers would probably need more funding for security as “the enemy is within”.

Asked what she meant when referring to the “enemy within”, Pelosi said: “It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and who have threatened violence against other members of Congress.”