Republicans boost security funding for public officials in plan to keep government open

Republicans on Tuesday laid out their plan to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30 — a mostly “clean,” short-term extension of current spending levels and policies, with a few exceptions like additional funds to provide security for public officials.

Democrats quickly announced opposition to the plan, saying it was crafted without their input. They argued it “does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis” resulting from a combination of GOP-enacted cuts to Medicaid and the looming year-end expiration of enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

“At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums,” House and Senate Democratic Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Charles E. Schumer, both of New York, said in a joint statement. 

While lawmakers still have two weeks to avert a government shutdown, both parties are already pointing the blame at each other for the stalemate that may happen.  

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said Democrats who’ve decried government shutdowns in the past are suddenly singing a different tune. 

“They’re grasping for straws as a party, and so some of them, apparently, believe that shutting down the government will be some sort of life raft for them so they can regain the support of the American people,” he said. “I just think that is a fool’s gambit.”

Mr. Schumer said one of the key differences from past shutdown situations is that Republicans won’t negotiate with Democrats whose votes they need. While he bailed them out when they used that play in March, he said he won’t do it again, given the increasing “unlawfulness” of the Trump administration illegally impounding funds that Congress approved. 

“If Trump refuses to let the Republicans negotiate, then it’s Trump’s shutdown,” Mr. Schumer said. 

The stopgap spending bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR, runs through Nov. 21, a date intended to provide appropriators more time to negotiate new full-year spending bills. 

The measure includes customary “anomalies” to allow higher rates of spending on some programs that require more flexibility than a CR allows. Examples include disaster relief and wildfire suppression programs; the food assistance program for low-income women, infants and children; and the nuclear security program. 

There are also a handful of one-off increases like $238 million for the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to strengthen its infrastructure to thwart criminals, terrorists and other national security threats to the nation’s financial system.

The measure also includes extra funding to provide security for public officials amid a rise in political violence, like the assassinations of conservative Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk and Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. 

The security funding provides $30 million for protecting executive branch officials, $30 million for lawmakers in the legislative branch and $28 million for Supreme Court justices.

The $30 million for members of Congress will be added to the “mutual aid” program that lets Capitol Police reimburse local law enforcement and other partners for helping secure lawmakers, particularly when they’re outside Washington. 

“The security funding is making sure, yes, that elected officials are safe, but also staff and members of the public as well,” said House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, Wisconsin Republican.

The funding does not cover an extension of a House pilot program, ending this month, that increased members’ monthly security allotment from $150 to $5,000 so members could hire personal security guards. The smaller amount is designed to cover residential security monitoring and maintenance.

Additional money for continuing that boost is being discussed as part of negotiations on a full-year legislative branch spending bill, Mr. Johnson said. 

He has said roughly 20 lawmakers participated in the two-month pilot program, but more expressed interest after Mr. Kirk was killed. 

The CR also includes a provision to fix an issue with the District of Columbia’s budget that was created in the last spending stopgap enacted in March. The District had to cut $1 billion from its current fiscal year budget because of that measure. 

Republicans say the language they’ve added to the short-term measure will allow D.C. to reclaim that $1 billion and spend its full budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

“There won’t be any hole, and I’ve advocated for that,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican. 

He said he hopes D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser “will be pleased with that when she comes in Thursday” to testify before his panel about ensuring crime remains low in Washington after the federal emergency intervention ended last week.