Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Chair, as the designee of Mr. Pascrell, I have an amendment at the desk.

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the bipartisan amendment to increase the budget of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program by $30 million.

I thank my dear friend and colleague and great leader from New Jersey, the great Congressman Bill Pascrell, and the gentleman from Texas, Chairman McCaul, for his leadership in spearheading this effort.

I also thank my great friend, Chairman Amodei, for his phenomenal leadership and all he does for his State to support all those who benefit from this important legislation.

Mr. Chair, the Nonprofit Security Grant Program is all about protecting religious freedom and our houses of worship, schools, and community centers, including temples, churches, and mosques, the very places everyone should feel safe. We especially need to protect religious freedom now more than ever.

Nonprofit Security Grants fund physical barriers like ballasts and bulletproof glass, technology to help with monitoring threats like cameras, and the hiring of onsite security officers. On top of that, these critical grants equip our nonprofits with the training and education they need to stay secure.

This program is vital and majorly oversubscribed, especially given this moment we are living in.

Applicants requested $679 million in funding this year for a program that only has about $300 million available. As a result, just 42 percent of applicants, fewer than half, receive funding despite their need for these resources to protect the families and our communities more than ever.

Here in America, the greatest country in the world, we must ensure that religious freedom endures. We must do everything we can to protect our children, our families, and communities from hate and discrimination. Unfortunately, New Jersey is a hub for anti-Semitic hate.

Nearly 1 in 10 of the incidents reported to the ADL occurred in our State. Bergen County, where I live, led the State in shameful anti- Semitic attacks. There were almost quadruple the number of insults, assaults, and death threats reported right here in our country in 2023 as compared to the prior year.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, which is a leading vital provider of facts and resources for this kind of information, nonpartisan, 2023 was the worst year for anti-Semitism since they began collecting data in 1979. There were more than 8,000 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2023, including more than 5,000 anti-Semitic incidents reported after October 7.

Anti-Semitism is just part of the story. We must reject hate and bigotry in all forms wherever it is. We are seeing disturbing incidents of Islamophobia and anti-Asian racism in northern New Jersey and in the tristate area.

In New Jersey, during Eid al-Fitr, Rutgers' Center for Islamic Life was vandalized as the suspect smashed artwork and plaques. It is shameful.

Our Asian-American, Pacific-Islander community is also under attack. A March survey from The Asian American Foundation found that one in five Asian-American New Yorkers had been physically assaulted. It is disgusting and completely unacceptable.

We must ensure that all people are safe on college campuses, in our neighborhoods, at our schools, at our churches, at our mosques, and at our synagogues. That is what the Nonprofit Security Grants are all about and why this program is so important.

As the only Jewish Member of New Jersey's congressional delegation, and as the only Jewish Member of the House Intelligence Committee, this is very personal for me. I believe strongly in our American values, one of which is freedom: freedom from fear, freedom from hate, and freedom to worship, live, and learn however you choose.

To safeguard these freedoms that we hold so dear, we must invest in our security to combat hate. Since I was sworn in, I have been focused on clawing millions of Federal dollars from Washington back to north Jersey through this very program to protect our religious institutions, $4.8 million in these vital grants for my district this year alone to protect them. They come to me every day and ask for help.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

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