Letter to Hon. Patrick Leahy, Chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee, Hon. Richard Shelby, Ranking Member of Senate Appropriations Committee, Hon. Chris Murphy, Chairman of Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and Hon. Shelley Moore Capito, Ranking Member of Subcommittee on Homeland Security - Following Another Violent Attack On The Jewish Community In Colleyville, Senators Gillibrand, Peters, Rosen, Portman, Lankford Lead Bipartisan Push For Funding To Help Protect Nonprofit Institutions

Letter

Dear Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Shelby, Chairman Murphy, and Ranking Member Capito,

Thank you for your continued support for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). As you finalize the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, we respectfully ask you to fund NSGP at an appropriate funding amount that reflects the increased threat level to the nonprofit sector.

This weekend, another attack occurred on a faith-based institution, in what the FBI is calling a "terrorism-related" matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted.1 This attack underscores how extremists pose a threat to the Jewish community and to other religious, racial, and ethnic groups.

Saturday's armed hostage event at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, could have ended tragically. It was one of many incidents reported this past year of racially and ethnically motivated violence that continues to target faith- and community based organizations, including shootings, arsons, bombings, assaults, and property damage.2 It crystalized how difficult it is for law enforcement to detect and prevent these threats before they occur, and it raised potential questions about our mechanisms to vet individuals coming to the United States who may do our citizens harm.

The nation is grateful to the FBI's hostage rescue team and the state and local law enforcement and first responders who helped to end the hostage crisis and allowed Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants to return home safely. However, the enormity and trauma of the event, much of it live-streamed, reverberated in communities across the country and served as a catalyst to energize more extremists and terrorist groups to act in kind.3

Congress established NSGP to support the physical security and security activities of at-risk faith-based and other nonprofit organizations, who cannot shoulder alone the investments they require to deter, detect and prevent violent extremist attacks from happening in their communities. For this reason, and in recognition of the increased threat environment under which these organizations must navigate, we respectfully encourage you to appropriately fund NSGP in FY 2022. Congress should do all that it can to protect at-risk and vulnerable nonprofits from today's increasing extremist and hate-motivated threats.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,