Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), one of the leading Senate advocates for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, told Jewish leaders on Wednesday that he is working with administration officials to ensure that NSGP funding moves forward quickly, but acknowledged that it had already taken too long.

Though the administration recently released freezes on reimbursements for past NSGP grants, it still has yet to announce awards for a supplemental grant round for which nonprofits applied in the fall of 2024, and has not yet opened the application for 2025 grants.

“That funding is not at risk. It is going to be let go, and it should be let go very, very quickly,” Lankford told an advocacy group organized by the Jewish Federations of North American and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

He continued, “We do have wide agreement to be able to say this needs to be done. It needs to be done faster, rather than slower. It’s already been held up too long. It’s June, almost July. The decision should have already been made to be able to move this.”

The Oklahoma senator, a co-chair of the Senate antisemitism task force, said he’s been in regular contact with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought — seen as a key fiscal hawk inside the administration — about moving the funding ahead.

“He has assured me again that it is moving,” Lankford said, who spoke to Vought on Wednesday. “They are getting all the details worked out. They continue to be able to work with DHS to be able to make sure that funding is moving. That is not at risk. It is caught up in all the initial – we’re holding everything to be able to look at it. But that funding is not at risk.”

Lankford said he’s continuing to engage with the OMB and other parts of the administration, communicating “this is just common sense, that we need to be able to do this.” The senator urged advocates to keep calling their representatives to continue pushing the issue.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the chair of the House Rules Committee and former chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, also addressed the group, and said she plans to introduce legislation regarding Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions policies on college campuses, which is “going to hold the schools responsible for any BDS activity.”

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) warned that he plans to excoriate the president of Georgetown University at a congressional hearing next month if the school hasn’t fired a university professor who urged Iran to attack U.S. forces in retaliation for the U.S. strikes on Iran.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is mounting a bid for Senate, told the group that she’s a “proud Zionist” who “stand[s] with the Jewish community to call out rampant antisemitism, disgusting and egregious antisemitism.” 

“My name is Haley Stevens, and you will always have a fierce ally in me,” she said. 

She said she’s working to increase funding for the NSGP, noting that an attack like the one in Boulder, Colo., could happen at a synagogue in her district or anywhere in the country.

Other lawmakers who attended the meeting included Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Lisa McClain (R-MI), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Celeste Maloy (R-UT), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), George Latimer (D-NY), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Scott Franklin (R-FL), Joe Morelle (R-NY), Randy Weber (R-TX), Gary Palmer (R-AL) and Lois Frankel (D-FL).