Two Democratic lawmakers are demanding that the Trump administration restore over $39.6 million in election security funding that Congress directed to the Department of Homeland Security for the 2026 midterms, according to an exclusive letter obtained by NPR. Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, who oversee federal elections in their respective chambers, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Nick Anderson, saying that time is running out to prepare for the November elections.
“With the midterm elections occurring in two months, we write with grave concern that time is running out … to assist state and local election officials in protecting our elections from cyber and mis-and disinformation threats,” the lawmakers wrote in their September 2 letter.
The funds in question were specifically legislated in the fiscal year 2026 DHS Appropriations bill, which Congress passed in April. The lawmakers are particularly focused on restoring money to the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), a critical resource that had provided free, voluntary cybersecurity intelligence to state, local, tribal, and territorial election offices across the country.
The EI-ISAC was effectively shut down after the Trump administration cut its funding in March 2025. The center was forced to shift to a paid membership model, creating a barrier for what the lawmakers called “under-resourced communities” that cannot afford subscriptions. In 2024, the EI-ISAC served roughly 3,700 election jurisdictions nationwide with threat intelligence and guidance on protecting against cyberattacks and foreign interference campaigns.
Padilla and Morelle cited “the removal of hundreds of CISA personnel and attempts by the Trump administration to slash the agency’s budget” as a major concern heading into the midterms. According to reporting in July 2026, CISA has lost around a third of its workforce, which stood at 3,400 in January 2025. The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal would have eliminated CISA’s election security program entirely, though House lawmakers later boosted CISA’s overall funding to $2.4 billion.
The funding gap is stark when compared to previous election cycles. In 2020, Congress allocated $425 million for election security grants ahead of the presidential election. By contrast, the 2026 cycle has seen federal funding for election security remain far below that level, with appropriations dropping to $45 million in 2026—a dramatic reduction that election officials have warned leaves states vulnerable.
The lawmakers emphasized the urgency of the threat environment. “This is particularly disturbing at a time when our nation is at war with the Republic of Iran, which has reportedly engaged in sophisticated cybersecurity attacks, including on water infrastructure in the United States and nuclear energy facilities in the United Kingdom,” they wrote. Russia, China, and other foreign and non-state actors also pose significant cyber and online election interference capabilities, which experts say are likely increasing with advances in artificial intelligence.
Padilla and Morelle concluded that the Trump administration is unlikely to “repair trust with election officials” before the November elections but argued that federal officials have a legal obligation to distribute funds as directed by Congress. “The failure to restore this funding as directed by Congress is a disservice to the thousands of election jurisdictions across this country,” they wrote. The lawmakers requested a response from DHS by September 9, 2026, on the status of the funding disbursement.
DHS and CISA did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment at the time the letter was published.
Sources
- NPR — exclusive reporting on the September 2 letter from Padilla and Morelle demanding restoration of $39.6 million in election security funding, details on EI-ISAC operations and funding cuts, and context on CISA staffing reductions
- New York Times — reporting that CISA has lost around a third of its workforce since Trump returned to office
- Northwestern Medill — reporting that federal funding for election security remains far below 2020 levels, with 2020 appropriations of $425 million compared to $45 million in 2026
- Brennan Center for Justice — background on election security funding history and CISA’s role in protecting election infrastructure
