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- Democratic and Republican lawmakers are asking for extra security.
- More than 30 House lawmakers asked if they can use their allowance money for it.
- In a letter to leadership, they said Capitol Police cannot adequately protect all of them.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Members of the US House of Representatives asked to use their allowance money to cover extra security following the Capitol siege.
More than 30 lawmakers signed on to a letter sent to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, which was first obtained by CBS News.
In the letter – which included both Democrats and Republicans – the members said they are “easier targets” in the internet age, and that the Capitol Police simply do not have the resources to protect all of them.
“Except for Leadership, Members do not have security details protecting them. The structure of the Capitol Police and the laws against threatening Members of Congress were first crafted in a much different time when the threat environment was significantly lower,” the House members wrote in the letter.
“Today, with the expansion of the web and social media sites, so much information about Members is accessible in the public sphere,” they wrote on in the letter, “making them easier targets, including home addresses, photos, personal details about Members’ families, and real-time information on Member attendance at events.”
House lawmakers get an average of $1.4 million per year to cover staff salaries, mail, and other office expenses. Currently, they're allowed to use those funds for things like bulletproof vests and to reimburse security at local events when traveling back home to their districts.
Leadership could approve more funding for security-related expenses.
This comes on the heels of the Department of Homeland Security issuing a terrorism advisory bulletin warning of the threats posed by white supremacists. Broadly referred to under the category of Homegrown Violent Extremists, DHS described the domestic terrorists as "inspired by foreign terrorist groups."
The department also listed a web page for reporting suspicious activity that could be tied to domestic terrorism.
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