The Republican-led House announced Tuesday they’ll provide each lawmaker with $20,000 for high-end security at their residences as well as $5,000 per month for “personal security,” amid increased threats to their safety.

The money award was announced in a closed-door GOP meeting Tuesday morning and applies to all 435 House members, who will head home Wednesday for a six-week break.

The move comes one week after Congress approved a recession package that slashes federal spending by $9 billion.

The move to expand security funding follows the shooting last month of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses by a constituent who posed as law enforcement and knocked on their doors late at night.

House lawmakers, among them Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, have received death threats.  

The House plan boosts each lawmaker’s monthly “monitoring and maintenance” allotment from $150 to $5,000 per month for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

It allows lawmakers to use the money to hire “licensed and insured individuals or companies to provide personal security.”

The plan doubles each lawmaker’s “lifetime” payment for security equipment at their homes from the current $10,000 to $20,000.

House leaders said it will also expand coordination between the U.S. Capitol Police and local police to provide “additional coverage” in the event of a threat to a lawmaker.

They said the money “aims to address security gaps and alleviate Members’ concerns while fulfilling their duties as elected officials, particularly in their districts and residences.”

Lawmakers have become increasingly concerned about their safety.

A federal grand jury last week indicted Vance Boelter in the shooting death of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark. Mr. Boelter gained entry into the Hortman home by posing as a police officer. He shot a second Democratic state lawmaker and his wife earlier in the evening. They both survived.

Last week, a Voice of America employee was indicted for threatening Ms. Greene and her staff using the phones at the VOA studio and control room.

“For 15 months, I received terrifying death threats from one individual who worked alarmingly close to my office building at the Voice of America,” Ms. Greene said. “That kind of sustained, targeted harassment is deeply disturbing. I truly feared for my life, as I do with all of the death threats I receive.”

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.