Krishnamoorthi Presses FEMA to Stop Conditioning Counterterrorism Funding on Trump's Voter Suppression Demands
WASHINGTON — Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent a letter on Monday to Acting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Robert J. Fenton after the agency announced it would condition more than $1 billion in Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) terrorism prevention funding on states adopting a series of new election requirements, including citizenship verification mandates, restrictions on voting equipment, mandatory post-election audits, and voter registration verification requirements. In the letter, Krishnamoorthi argues the policy is a coercive and unconstitutional attempt to pressure states into adopting the Trump Administration's voter suppression agenda by threatening to withhold critical counterterrorism funding.
The Congressman writes:
“According to the notice, FEMA will withhold 20 percent of each recipient's total HSGP award until the recipient proves it has complied with the Department's newly invented 'Election Security' requirements. This unprecedented attempt to leverage congressionally appropriated funds to influence state election administration is directly drawn from Project 2025, and it is coercive and unconstitutional. I urge you and the Trump Administration to stop all attempts to undermine trust in our elections on baseless claims of widespread fraud, and maintain full funding for state's HSGP awards.”
The Congressman further writes:
“The specific conditions that FEMA has outlined make clear that this is yet another attempt to threaten American voters' access to the ballot box. The notice conditions funding for grant recipients by requiring states to submit plans to eliminate ballot-marking devices in favor of hand-marked paper ballots, commit to a 5 percent manual post-election audit, reconcile voter turnout figures with ballots cast, and use the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to check the citizenship status of every registered voter within 120 days of accepting the award. Several of these mandates, such as the SAVE requirement, have already been blocked or viewed with considerable skepticism by federal courts when the Administration tried to impose them through executive order.”
The Congressman requested the following records no later than July 29, 2026:
- All records, communications, and legal analyses concerning the decision to condition HSGP funding on the FY 2026 Election Security NPA requirements, including any role played by the Department of Homeland Security or the White House;
- An accounting of which states and urban areas have had HSGP funds withheld to date, and the dollar amount withheld from each;
- Any legal opinion FEMA relied upon in concluding it may condition terrorism-prevention funding on election administration requirements unrelated to the statutory purposes of the Homeland Security Grant Program; and
- All records reflecting consideration of Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership in the drafting of the FY 2026 HSGP Notice of Funding Opportunity.
The full text of the letter is available here.