As the American Jewish community continues to reel from the near massacre of Jewish preschool children last week at Temple Israel, senators will hold a confirmation hearing today for Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be the new secretary of Homeland Security. Our lawmakers must ask Mullin what he will do to keep Jewish and other faith communities safe.

The attempted shooting at Michigan’s Temple Israel ended well — at least, as well as such a story could end. Like so many Jewish institutions in America, Temple Israel invested heavily in private security personnel and systems. According to reports, the largest Reform synagogue in America employs multiple security guards daily and its employees had taken an active shooter training class weeks earlier. When the assailant rammed his car into the synagogue, the guards immediately engaged with and disabled the shooter.

But here’s the bad news. The money needed to keep Jewish communities (and other faith communities) safe is being held hostage by the political showdown over the Department of Homeland Security.

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) awards federal funds to religious institutions to bolster their security, like surveillance cameras, access control systems, gates and lighting, alert systems, staff training and security personnel. It’s the largest and most direct way federal or state governments are protecting people in their pews. But, as it is, these funds are woefully inadequate to meet the security needs of the American Jewish community. In 2024, only 43 percent of applicants received NSGP funds out of nearly $1 billion in requests. That’s why we have urged Congress and the Trump administration to increase these funds to $500 million for fiscal 2026.

American Jewish communities are forced to pay what amounts to an antisemitism tax to provide essential, life-saving protection. With antisemitism on the rise, local police don’t have the resources to keep our community safe. Jewish communities pay north of $750 million per year to send their children to Jewish schools, attend synagogue and hold communal events safely.

The story at Temple Israel could have ended very differently if not for the quick thinking of the guards on the scene, as well as county officials and the FBI who work with Jewish institutions to train staff and private security guards.

We don’t have to imagine what that ending looks like. We saw it at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, at California’s Poway Chabad and at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. In recent days, there have also been violent attacks on synagogues in Canada, Norway and Belgium. Jewish communities in America and elsewhere are on their highest alert, doing whatever we can to ensure that our freedom to worship is joined with a freedom from fear.

I wish the same could be said for politicians in Washington.

Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security was beset by funding delays, dysfunction and a high level of partisan gamesmanship — even for Washington. Mullin’s nomination is an opportunity for the administration to start anew, and focus on keeping vulnerable communities safe instead of political theatrics.

As Mullin begins his confirmation process, members of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on both sides of the aisle should press the nominee on his plans for ending the funding standoff, investing in vital security programs like the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, and prioritizing safety over politics.

If last week’s shooting isn’t a wake-up call to Congress to get its act together, I don’t know what is. We need Republicans and Democrats in Congress, together with those in the Trump administration who have boldly spoken out against antisemitism, to get together and deliver security and safety to American Jewish communities. Or, to put it another way, deliver the most basic thing citizens expect from our government.

Jewish communities and local police are doing their part. They are doing everything right. The least Congress can do is its job.