Capitol Police budget request tops $1 billion

Source: Roll Call

Posted March 17, 2026 at 4:36pm


The Capitol Police must expand to face a rise in threats to lawmakers’ safety, Chief Michael G. Sullivan told House appropriators on Tuesday. The department is seeking more than $1 billion for fiscal 2027, an increase of 20 percent over current levels and its largest request to date. This was Sullivan’s first budget hearing since his hiring as chief last June, after serving as interim leader of the Phoenix Police Department. His hiring came as Capitol Police leadership has continued to face scrutiny over its handling of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and some embarrassing lapses that let guns through security checkpoints.

The force must do more to boost retention as it loses officers to retirement and competes with other agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sullivan testified before the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee. Lawmakers were largely supportive of Sullivan’s request, with several mentioning threats they themselves received. “I doubt there’s a member on this dais that hasn’t had some type of threat since they’ve been in office,” said Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.V.

But there was still some sticker shock at a police budget that has more than doubled in the last decade. “We’re in a constrained budget environment, and this committee has to always make tough decisions,” said subcommittee ranking member Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. “So I’ll be direct: You have asked for more funding, and if this committee holds your budget flat for fiscal year 2027, what specifically breaks?”

Sullivan responded that Capitol Police considers its budget to be “very lean” in the face of “exponential” growth in threats against lawmakers — citing nearly 15,000 threat assessment cases against lawmakers, their families and staff in 2025 — and a twofold increase in support for congressional delegation visits abroad.

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/03/17/capitol-police-budget-request-tops-1-billion/