JCPA Responds to Bill Passage Ending DHS Shutdown

“We welcome the end of the DHS shutdown and urge that vital and long overdue Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding be released as soon as possible. It has now been over a year since this funding for critical security needs was approved and — even as synagogues and other institutions face unprecedented threats — communities still have no indication of when they can expect a response to their applications.

“We should remember why we are here: our communities are repeatedly being asked to choose between our safety and our values. That is why JCPA called to allow this critical NSGP funding to move forward while Congress continued its necessary debate on ICE, rather than tying our communities’ security to support for violent, militarized immigration enforcement. This same choice between our safety and our values is also being forced on communities through terms and conditions that make security funding contingent on unrelated political demands.

“With this budget passed and this shutdown at an end, DHS must move quickly to approve and distribute funding for programs like NSGP — free of any unrelated, politicized terms and conditions — so that our communities can begin to make up lost ground, implement much-needed security programs, and secure our houses of worship, community centers, and more.”