House Sergeant at Arms William Walker has recently developed a new program in which each House lawmaker is provided up to $10,000 to bolster their security systems at their personal residence.
How nice.
Now do it for the rest of us.
It has come to thisâŚ
Walkerâs initiative comes as lawmakers face a troubling surge in threats. In fact, thereâve been several incidents just this month.
Ridiculous waste of resources.
Give them an AR-15 and a thousand rounds of ammo, under $2K each, zero in monthly payments, and all the personal protection that they need and offer to the public, who has to buy their own.
Hey, $175K doesnât go that far these days.
Is this in addition to regular compensation and is it considered as taxable income?
10,000 for EACH house the congress person owns or just their primary residence?
Do they get this security 10k every re-election?
What if they move (even for good cause)? Is that another 10k?
Basically, if I was a republican, or some other bastard who always negotiates to personal gain, (like Joe manchin) how easily could I abuse this?
So create a threat and them demand protection from the threat you created. At no cost to yourself.
Nice con you have going on.
A friend who attended a judicial conference with Justice Kagan told me that the SCOTUS travel with at least 10 security people, so I guess a security upgrade for Congress is warranted, too. What an antiworld we are living inâŚ
This is a waste of money, at least the way itâs currently designed. Just about everyone who manages to get elected to Congress has the income to provide a home security system, and theyâll already have one installed. So theyâll just pocket the 10 grand.
$150 a year for monitoring doesnât begin to cover typical security company monitoring charges, which can run $25-$50 a month for a basic system. The millionaires with mansions will have fancier systems, and more than one home to secure.
Itâs a cash giveaway that doesnât address the security of Congress critters in any meaningful way. Just window dressing to pretend something is being done, and amplify the narrative that theyâre under threat.
Whatever happened with thoughts and prayers?
That Manchin yacht plus his WV home?
Hmmmm wonder how many Republicans will reject that assistance?
These funds should be taken directly out of the paycheck of nearly all GOP members. Iâm gonna exempt Cheney and Kinzinger. Some others, however, are gonna get charged twice, including Empty and Dâohbert.
âThe Sergeant at Arms (SAA) will assume the cost of and oversee certain future residential security upgrades, maintenance, and monthly monitoring fees,â Walker wrote, per a copy of the notice obtained by the Hill and the Washington Examiner. âThis program will strengthen the security of Members of the House of Representatives and their families.â
The program will begin on Aug. 15, according to the Hill and the Washington Examiner.
Good and about time. Ignoring the Republican histrionics, itâs Democrats (and Republicans viewed as insufficiently loyal to Trump) that are facing the plurality of threats:
A plurality of the cases reviewed by The Times, more than a third, involved Republican or pro-Trump individuals threatening Democrats or Republicans they found insufficiently loyal to the former president, with upticks around Mr. Trumpâs first impeachment and, later, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol last year. In some cases leading up to Congressâs official count of electoral votes on Jan. 6, callers left messages with lawmakers in both parties warning them to keep Mr. Trump in office or face violence.
Threats against members of Congress jumped more than fourfold after Mr. Trump took office. In 2016, the Capitol Police investigated 902 threats; the following year, that number reached 3,939.
In particular, the Squad has taken the brunt of MAGA death threats:
Itâs long past time that Congress provide adequate security for their members. We shouldnât wait till one (or more) are successfully assassinated before we make changes.
Nonsense. Congressional Security should be exactly the same as offered to the average citizen going shopping or to school.
Then you might see some changes around the place.
Sure, if you want to see the Democratic ranks of Congress get thinned out by a threats and assassination spree by MAGAland. Democrats (and Democratic women, in particular) face the most Congressional death threats, including those that have come close to succeeding.
Now, if you limited it to those who voted against the recent gun control bill, you might see the type of progress you are looking for:
And there are already things in place for those under specific threats, including personal security as needed.
Dunno that we just need a blanket giveaway to everyone when itâs been quite limited in nature before.
Proof that police arenât here to protect us.
Seems to me fascist militias should now get $10,000 to be spent figuring out how to thwart the additional security. Itâs only fair.