Religious leaders, lawmakers push for $1 billion to secure houses of worship

At a recent Shabbat service in West Bloomfield, Mich., Rabbi Jen Lader shared plans to lobby Congress to pour more funding into a federal program that strengthens security at houses of worship.

“We are not asking Congress to just protect Jews – we are asking Congress to protect every community of Americans that gathers to pray. And we are asking with the full weight of what we have just lived through behind us,” she said, referencing the March attack on her congregation of Temple Israel. 

The fact that no one was killed other than the attacker is a credit, Lader said, to their security personnel and rigorous staff training.