Members of Congress are urgently reviewing security arrangements following the weekend Minnesota shootings that claimed the lives of a Democratic state legislator and her husband, with many demanding extra funds to beef up their own protection.
Fears of increasing levels of political violence were further heightened by the discovery of “dozens and dozens” of names of Democratic politicians on a hit list found in the car of Melissa Hortman’s accused assassin. One, Michigan congresswoman Hillary Scholten, cancelled a town hall in Muskegon on Monday.
“Nothing matters more to me than the safety and wellbeing of the people I serve,” Scholten said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time, this is the responsible choice.”
Members of both chambers of Congress were set to meet with Capitol police in Washington DC on Tuesday in the latest of a series of briefings to discuss safety and security, as one senior House lawmaker told NBC the situation was “as scary as shit” in the wake of the Minnesota shootings.
The Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and other senior party members have asked Republican speaker Mike Johnson to boost members’ official budgets “to support additional safety and security measures in every single office”.
Adding to the volatility, many believe, are rhetoric and misinformation from Donald Trump and the president’s allies – and the “cruel” mocking of Hortman and her party by the Utah Republican senator Mike Lee.
Lee’s post of accused assassin Vance Boelter in a terrifying rubber mask at the door of one of four Democratic lawmakers’ homes he is alleged to have visited in the early hours of Saturday remained online Tuesday morning despite a furious backlash. The caption read: “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.”
Ed Shelleby, a senior aide to Minnesota Democratic senator Tina Smith, a close friend of Hortman, excoriated Lee’s staffers in a memo reposted to X by an NBC journalist.
“It is important for your office to know how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend,” Shelleby wrote.
“If God forbid you ever find yourselves ever having to deal with anything similar, you find yourselves on the receiving end of the kind of grace and compassion that senator Mike Lee could not muster.”
Jeffries, meanwhile, is scheduled to host a briefing for Democratic House members on Tuesday with Capitol police representatives, the House administration committee, and the sergeant at arms office.
In a letter to Johnson on Monday, Jeffries and New York Democrat Joseph Morelle, the administration committee’s ranking member, cited escalating political violence and threats, including attempts on Trump’s life last year – and said security of members from all parties “must be an area of common ground”.
“Representatives from both sides of the aisle have endured assassination attempts that changed their lives and careers forever,” they wrote.
“Too many other patriotic public servants have left Congress because they no longer felt safe carrying out their duty as elected officials. We must act to protect each other and preserve this great American institution.”
The letter asks Johnson for an increase to the member representational allowance to enable them to increase their spending on items such as security cameras and personal protection without needing to cut back elsewhere. Such an increase would require an act of Congress.
Under existing rules adopted after the 2017 shooting that wounded Republican US House member Steve Scalise at practice for the congressional baseball game in Virginia, members can justify security spending as “an ordinary and necessary reimbursable expense”.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) last year unanimously expanded spending rules to allow campaign funds to be spent on physical and cybersecurity measures for political candidates, their families and campaign staff.
FEC commissioner Dara Lindenbaum said at the time that the growing threat of political violence made it “critical” to find additional ways to protect those running for office.
“The one small thing we can do is give these candidates, officeholders and their families and staff the ability to actually use funds to pay for them,” she said.
Republican Congress members took part in a virtual meeting with sergeant at arms William McFarland and Capitol police leaders on Saturday, with NBC reporting the call “got tense”.
Sources in the meeting told the outlet that McFarland updated members on options available to them, while another said the call was “terrible”, complaining that leadership was granted security details but that “nothing has changed” for rank and file members, despite an increase in violent incidents even before Minnesota.
In February, the Capitol police threat assessment section announced it had investigated 9,474 “concerning statements and direct threats” against members of Congress, their families or staff members, in 2024 – up from 8,008 the previous year, and 7,501 in 2022.
“We must continue to enhance our protective and intelligence operations to keep up with this evolving threat environment,” Capitol police chief Tom Manger said.
The shooting Boelter is accused in also wounded Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
