Jewish groups said on Monday that the House Appropriations Committee’s 2026 appropriations bill, which includes $305 million in funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, fails to meet the need for the program.

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security voted on Monday evening to advance the bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, with an increase from 2025 of just over $30 million for NSGP funding. The full committee will debate and vote on the bill on Thursday morning.

Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, said in a statement the House proposal is “a far cry from what is needed in the face of exploding antisemitism.”

“The pro-Hamas calls to ‘globalize the Intifada’ have arrived in America. Jewish communities are facing a real crisis with a real set of threats, and Congress must respond with real action,” Diament said. 

“Every synagogue, school, and community center denied funding is left vulnerable. Thoughts and prayers are not going to protect us. It’s time for Congress to step up with the resources needed to keep our communities safe,” he continued.

The Anti-Defamation League expressed a similar view.

“In the wake of the horrific antisemitic violence we’ve seen in Washington, D.C., and Boulder, our communities are living in fear. We appreciate the proposed increase to $305 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, but it is not enough,” Lauren Wolman, director of federal policy and strategy at the ADL, said in a separate statement. “Not when Jewish schools are forced to hire armed guards. Not when synagogues are receiving bomb threats during services.” 

Wolman continued, “This program is a lifeline, and the demand far exceeds what this funding level can provide. ADL is committed to working with bipartisan lawmakers to ensure more at-risk communities have the resources they need to feel safe. Words of support must be matched with action.”

The $305 million figure would restore the program to its 2023 funding levels, though it still falls short of what Jewish advocacy groups and lawmakers have called for. At the time, the $305 million funding level fell short of meeting demand. 

OU Advocacy, the public policy arm of the Orthodox Union, is one of many Jewish organizations that has called for at least $500 million in NSGP funding for the next fiscal year. 

Both the OU and the ADL signed onto a joint statement with other Jewish community groups following the Capital Jewish Museum shooting last month, urging federal officials to increase NSGP funding to $1 billion.

“OU Advocacy views the NSGP as severely underfunded, despite skyrocketing antisemitism. In 2023, the program received 5,257 applications for $679 million in funding, but only 42% were approved. In 2024, more than 7,500 organizations applied for nearly $1 billion in grants, but less than half, $454.5 million, was distributed,” the organization’s press release stated.

The Trump administration has requested $274.5 million for NSGP for FY 2026, keeping the program funded at FY 2025 levels. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a press conference with other New York Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Dan Goldman (D-NY), as well as communal Jewish leaders to push for $500 million for the program. He said that Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who will release their own draft bill, “seemed open to it.”

The House Appropriations Committee’s draft 2026 Homeland Security funding bill includes $305 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, a marginal increase that would restore the program to its 2023 funding levels.

But lawmakers and Jewish advocacy groups at the time — well before antisemitism skyrocketed following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, the ensuing war in Gaza and the recent series of antisemitic terrorist attacks in the United States — called that funding level insufficient. At the time, the funding fell well short of meeting demand, which has increased significantly since then.

In 2024 and 2025, the program received $274.5 million, supplemented by $400 million split across the two years from the national security supplemental bill passed in 2024.

In 2023, the program received a total of 5,257 applications, requesting a total of $679 million in funding. Just 42% were approved. Demand increased significantly in 2024 — 7,584 applications were submitted, totaling nearly $1 billion in funding requested. Forty-three percent of applications were approved, with $454.5 million available between annual appropriations and the supplemental.

Bipartisan groups of supporters in the House and Senate have been pushing for $500 million for the program for 2026, while many Jewish groups called for funding to be increased to $1 billion following the shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish communal event in Washington in May. 

The House’s proposal does, however, deviate from the administration’s request for flat funding — $274.5 million — for the program, indicating some interest from House Republicans in providing additional support for the program.

The House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee will meet to debate and vote on the bill Monday evening, and the full committee will debate and vote on it Thursday morning.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told Jewish Insider last week that he plans to launch an “all-out push” on Monday for $500 million for the program. He said that Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who will release their own draft bill, “seemed open to it.”

With both chambers of Congress and the White House controlled by Republicans, Schumer’s voice may have limited impact in the process.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a shift, said in a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday that Israel’s 11-week blockade of aid into Gaza was damaging Israel’s national security and international standing and that U.S. pressure had contributed to Israel’s decision to release the hold. He also said that current levels of aid entering Gaza are not sufficient.

The remarks are strikingly similar to comments made since the beginning of the war in Gaza by Democrats, particularly progressives, who have criticized Israel’s policy toward aid to Gaza, and stand in contrast with Rubio’s and other Republicans’ previous comments arguing against allowing aid to flow back into Gaza.

“In the interim period, the one thing we’ve made abundantly clear is that the humanitarian situation — and I think this was acknowledged by the prime minister in his statement — the humanitarian situation, the direction that it was headed was undermining Israel’s standing and national security,” Rubio said.

He added that the Israelis had “acknowledged in their own statement that … the intervention of the United States and others is the reason why they’ve started to allow aid, albeit … not at the levels that are necessary.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in a press conference on Wednesday, his first to Israeli media in five months, that friends of Israel, including U.S. senators, have said they support Israel in its war against Hamas but they have concerns regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Rubio said that U.S. officials, including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, are actively working to ensure that additional aid is provided “because, as we said, we were concerned about the conditions and the directions that they were headed.”

Throughout the post-Oct. 7 period, Rubio had argued repeatedly as a member of the Senate that any additional aid provided to Gaza “would go directly to Hamas and would be controlled by them,” concerns he again acknowledged in the hearing on Wednesday and other appearances on the Hill this week.

He said repeatedly that he spoke last weekend with Cindy McCain, who leads the World Food Program, about the WFP’s aid distribution mechanisms in Gaza. Israeli and U.S. officials have been working to implement alternative aid delivery processes rather than rely on U.N. agencies.

Rubio reiterated that the administration fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and that there is no future for the people of Gaza as long as Hamas is in power. He said he has “some level of optimism that we may have a breakthrough” in efforts to end the war and free the hostages “pretty quickly.”

But, Rubio continued, “I have felt that way now at least four separate times in the last couple of months, and for one reason or another, at the last minute, it didn’t happen, and so I don’t want to be disappointed on it again.”

In his second consecutive day of hearings on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he expects that additional Arab countries will join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year, if not earlier.

“We do have an Abraham Accords office that is actively working to identify a number of countries who have lined up and already I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance,” Rubio said a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The comments are consistent with other recent remarks by President Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Rubio added that the administration is currently working on selecting an ambassador for the Abraham Accords, as required under law, to submit for congressional confirmation.

He said that there is “still a willingness” in Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, but “certain conditions are impediments,” including the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war.

Rubio’s testimony largely reinforced and added on his comments the day before, on issues including Iran and Syria.

He again insisted that all elements of the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Witkoff, are unified behind the position that Iran cannot be allowed to maintain its capacity to enrich uranium.

And he affirmed that U.S. law requires that any deal with Iran be submitted to Congress for review and approval, noting that he had been in Congress when that law was passed.

At an afternoon hearing with the House Appropriations Committee, Rubio again said that sanctions relating to Iranian proxy terrorism or other malign activities will not be impacted by a nuclear deal that does not address those subjects. Republicans in the past have questioned the distinction between nuclear and non-nuclear sanctions, particularly as part of the original 2015 nuclear deal, which took a similar approach. And they’ve argued that any sanctions relief would allow Iran to expand its support for regional terrorism.

Rubio said the administration is continuing to ramp up sanctions on Iran, and said that European parties to the deal are “on the verge” of implementing snapback sanctions on Iran. He said that the administration would support legislation to implement additional sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

He denied knowledge of a Tuesday leak by administration officials that Israel was making plans to strike Iran’s nuclear program, adding, “I also don’t think it’s a mystery, though … that Israel has made clear that they retain the option of action to limit Iran from ever gaining a nuclear capability.”

Expanding on comments he made the day before, Rubio said that he favors moving the mission of U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian territories under the authority of the U.S. ambassador to Israel so that it can be a better-integrated part of the U.S.’ Israel policy. But he vowed that the core function of the office will continue.

Rubio denied reports of talks between the United States and Saudi Arabia about potential nuclear cooperation outside of a “gold standard” deal, which would include banning domestic enrichment.

The secretary of state reiterated comments about the critical necessity of providing sanctions relief to Syria to help contribute to stability, but he said that continued sanctions relief “does have to be conditioned on them continuing to live by the commitments” that the Syrian government has made verbally, including to combat extremism, prevent Syria from becoming a launchpad for attacks on Israel and form a government that represents, includes and protects ethnic and religious diversity.

He indicated that the U.S. is not actively working to shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, but pledged that the United States will not be providing any further aid to or through that organization and will use its power and funding to look for alternatives.

He said it will be up to other countries whether they continue working with UNRWA, though he noted that the U.S. has been the agency’s largest donor.

Rubio said that he would be supportive, in concept, of legislation to expand current U.S. anti-boycott laws to include compulsory boycotts imposed by international organizations. That legislation was pulled from a House floor vote after right-wing lawmakers falsely claimed it would ban U.S. citizens from boycotting Israel.

Pushing back on calls for the U.S. to withhold weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates over its support for one of the parties involved in the Sudanese Civil War that the U.S. has found is committing genocide, Rubio said that the U.S. is not fully in alignment with the UAE but argued that it’s critical for the U.S. to continue engaging with and maintain a strong relationship with the UAE for its broader foreign policy goals in the Middle East.

He said that maintaining such a relationship and expanding the U.S.’ diplomatic and economic relationship with Abraham Accords countries is also important to ensuring that the Accords continue to be successful.

Rubio said that the State Department had approved restarting aid programs for Jordan that remained frozen — though he noted most were initially exempted from the administration’s blanket freeze. He acknowledged that the frozen programs had been “a source of frustration for [Jordan], and frankly for me.” He continued, “Ultimately, we’re going to get all those programs online, if they’re not online already.”

In a heated back-and-forth with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who was brandishing a pocket Constitution, Rubio again defended the administration’s policy of revoking student visas from individuals accused of involvement in anti-Israel activity on college campuses, saying that they are coming to the United States to “tear this country [apart]” and “stir up problems on our campuses.”

Addressing the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University graduate student that supporters have said was detained solely for writing an op-ed in a student newspaper criticizing Israel, Rubio claimed the situation is not as has been represented. “Those are her lawyers’ claims and your claims, those are not the facts,” Rubio said.

Asked by Jayapal about a comment — “Jews are untrustworthy and a dangerous group” — made by an Afrikaner refugee recently admitted to the United States from South Africa, Rubio said that he would “look forward to revoking the visas of any lunatics you can identify.”

But when presented with the fact that the individual in question was admitted as a refugee, not on a visa, Rubio said that refugee admissions are “a totally different process,” adding “student visas are a privilege.”