In a draft bill released on Wednesday evening, Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee proposed providing $305 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in 2025, the same amount that was provided in 2023, before a surge of antisemitic incidents across the country in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Lawmakers and Jewish groups have said that substantially more funding is needed for the program that funds security improvements at nonprofits and religious institutions given the accelerated pace of threats and the chronic and significant budget shortages. Even with a record $454.5 million available this year from regular and emergency funding bills, just 43% percent of funding requests were fulfilled.

The Senate’s proposed Homeland Security funding bill comes months after the Senate Appropriations Committee released and voted to advance funding bills for the rest of the federal government, which were negotiated on a bipartisan basis. But talks over the Homeland Security package had dragged on, primarily focusing on border security issues.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, blasted the bill as a partisan Democratic measure.

“Senate Democratic leadership’s decision to forego bringing bills to the Senate floor and leave committee-reported bills languishing on the calendar is unacceptable,” Collins said in a statement. “This has unfortunately led to a unilateral decision from the Majority to post a partisan measure on a critical appropriations bill … This type of action undercuts our efforts over the last two years to reach bipartisan consensus and allow Senators an opportunity to debate and amend appropriations bills.”

For 2024, lawmakers cut NSGP funding to $274.5 million as part of the regular appropriations process, with a total of $400 million in additional funding provided in the national security supplemental bill for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in a statement that the Democrats’ proposed bill would “[restore] FEMA grant funding to help protect nonprofits.”

Senate Democrats separately want to pass supplemental funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the NSGP, to address recent natural disasters. A source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider that additional NSGP funding is on the “wish list” for that bill, but it would likely face Republican pushback.

The Senate Democrats’ proposal matches the original proposal from Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, though the House ultimately voted to increase its funding allocation by $30 million to $335 million, a level Jewish groups said was still insufficient.

“We welcome the Senate’s continued commitment to funding and growing the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. But at a time of unprecedented threats to Jewish and other at-risk communities, funding still hasn’t reached the level necessary to meet the need,” Lauren Wolman, director of federal policy and strategy at the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement to JI. “Congress recognized the gravity of the threat earlier this year by including historic supplemental funding on top of the annual NSGP budget. We urge the Senate to meet this moment to protect our communities.”

Karen Paikin Barall, the vice president of government relations at the Jewish Federations of North America, said that it was “an important step” to reverse the 2024 funding cut, “but unfortunately this level of funding is not keeping pace with horrific and unprecedented wave of antisemitic threats our community is facing.”

“It’s not too late to fully fund this life-saving program and protect all houses of worship,” Barall said.

Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, emphasized that the funding legislation is still far from finalized and will go through significant additional revisions.

It remains unclear whether any of the 2025 funding bills will be passed before the end of the year, with some lawmakers pushing instead to extend current funding levels through part or all of the fiscal year. Donald Trump’s election victory has further shaken up those discussions. Current government funding will lapse in December.

But before then, the Department of Homeland Security is set to distribute an additional $220 million in security grant funding as part of a special emergency application round conducted this fall. Those funds constitute the remainder of the emergency funding provided in the national security supplemental.