A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday introduced sweeping legislation aimed at marshaling the full weight of the federal government against antisemitism in the United States, proposing $1 billion in security funding for at-risk religious institutions, a comprehensive Education Department framework for college campuses, and new transparency requirements for social media platforms.

The Jewish American Security Act, cosponsored by Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, would direct the Education Department to develop and implement a federal framework for combating antisemitism in higher education, invest $1 billion in security resources for at-risk houses of worship and other nonprofit institutions, and require social media companies to demonstrate how they handle antisemitic content on their platforms.

“Our nation is facing an epidemic of antisemitism,” Sen. Rosen said in a statement. “Year after year, we are seeing unprecedented levels of antisemitic violence and harassment. Jewish Americans are being targeted, attacked and killed simply because of who they are. This alarming trend demands a comprehensive, bipartisan approach that addresses both the seeds and the impacts of this vile hatred.”

Sen. Lankford, in his own statement, pointed to the post-Oct. 7 surge. “Since October 7, Jews in America have faced an unprecedented surge in antisemitism,” he said. “These are not just numbers, these are real stories impacting real people. Jewish students being targeted on campuses. Synagogues being vandalized. People being attacked in the streets simply because of their faith and heritage. That is not who we are as a nation, and we unequivocally condemn antisemitism in all its forms. Every American deserves to live their faith freely. That is worth fighting for.”

The bill is backed by nearly every major Jewish communal organization in the country, including Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Union for Reform Judaism, the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America and Hillel International.

The proposed $1 billion security investment is the dollar figure the organized Jewish community has been seeking for the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program for two consecutive funding cycles. The program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides grants for cameras, access controls, alarms, locks, protective barriers and emergency-preparedness training at institutions deemed at high risk of terrorist or extremist attack. Congress allocated $274.5 million for the program in each of the last two fiscal years and $300 million for fiscal 2026, a fraction of demand. In 2024, roughly 7,600 applicants sought nearly $1 billion in grants and only 43 percent were approved.

In March, Rep. Gabe Amo, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Rep. Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, led a letter signed by 148 House members requesting $1 billion for the program for fiscal 2027. A separate Senate letter signed last month by Sens. Rosen, Lankford, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Gary Peters of Michigan requested $750 million, which Jewish Federations CEO Eric Fingerhut described as “a significant step toward our community’s $1 billion goal.”

The community’s case rests on numbers that have grown progressively more alarming. The ADL recorded nearly 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2025, an 893 percent increase over the past decade and the highest annual total since the organization began tracking incidents in 1979. According to a joint ADL and Jewish Federations of North America study, 55 percent of American Jews experienced some form of antisemitism in the past year. Jewish Americans, who make up roughly 2.4 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for 68 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2023, the agency’s most recent comprehensive figures.

The Jewish community itself spends more than $765 million annually on security, Fingerhut has said, calling it “the largest item in every synagogue, every school, every camp, every Jewish community center budget.”

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