Lawmakers seek $1 billion for security grants at houses of worship

Houses of worship are pushing Congress for $1 billion in security grants because the threat has remained persistent and the money has not kept pace. In March 2026, Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas led a letter signed by 148 members of Congress calling for the money for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, the largest request since the program was created.

The pressure follows a year in which demand dwarfed supply. FEMA data showed 7,584 applications in the 2024 grant cycle and 3,288 approvals, meaning about 43 percent of applicants received awards. Those applicants asked for $973 million, but the program allocated $454.5 million. Congress had already provided $274.5 million through regular 2024 appropriations, then added $400 million in a national security supplemental bill. Roughly half of that supplemental money was used in the 2024 cycle, leaving about $220 million for later use.

The program, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Department of Homeland Security, pays for target-hardening measures such as door locks, security cameras, bollards, training and other physical upgrades for nonprofits and faith-based institutions at risk of attack. It is structured as a pass-through grant process, with eligible organizations applying through their State Administrative Agency.

The demand is not limited to one faith community. About 63 percent of 2024 applications came from religious institutions, and 37 percent of grant recipients were Jewish institutions. About 71 percent of recipients were first-time applicants, a sign that many organizations are only now reaching a point where they need federal help to harden buildings that were never designed for this kind of threat.

Advocates say the stakes are immediate. Jewish Federations of North America organized an advocacy fly-in of more than 400 Jewish leaders to Capitol Hill, and the effort came one day after an attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego killed three people. Rabbi Jen Lader said the March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, could have ended very differently without the security personnel and training funded through the program. Fadi Hammami of the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford said the latest attacks have left communities asking whether violence is a matter of “when or if.”

The larger policy choice is now plain: expand the grant program fast enough to meet a still-growing queue, or leave congregations, synagogues, mosques and other nonprofits to compete for a pool that has already fallen far short of need. For lawmakers, the $1 billion request is an admission that hardening buildings has become a standing federal task, not a temporary fix.