Federal funding for election security grants has declined sharply over the past several years, and a budget proposal moving through Congress could reduce that support further — raising concerns from Democratic lawmakers about the long-term capacity of states to protect their elections from foreign interference and cyber threats.
Why It Matters
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is the sole federal agency focused exclusively on helping states and local governments administer secure elections. The agency distributes grants used for technology upgrades, cybersecurity improvements, physical security at polling sites, and efforts to counter voter misinformation. A significant reduction in its budget would directly affect states’ ability to fund those programs.
Congress created the election security grant program after foreign interference was documented in the 2016 presidential election. The EAC itself was established in 2002 through legislation that then-Rep. Steny Hoyer helped author.
What Happened
The House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill in April that would reduce the EAC’s salaries and expenses budget from $23.86 million to $17 million — a cut of roughly 30 percent. The same bill would trim the agency’s election security grant program from $45 million to $15 million, a reduction of two-thirds.
The proposed cuts come as Congress is simultaneously debating the SAVE America Act, which passed the House in February. The legislation would require voters to present photo identification at the polls and to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The bill has stalled in the Senate, where it faces opposition from Democrats and a small number of Republicans.
President Trump and Republican congressional leaders have backed the SAVE America Act as a necessary step toward election integrity. Critics argue the bill imposes barriers to voting without addressing the types of foreign-based threats that the grant program was designed to counter.
By the Numbers
Election security grant funding has followed a steep downward trajectory since its peak. Congress approved $380 million in 2018 when the program launched, followed by $425 million in 2020 along with an additional $400 million in pandemic-related election assistance that year. Appropriations fell substantially in subsequent years: $75 million in both 2022 and 2023, dropping to $55 million in 2024, and then to just $15 million in 2025. The current fiscal year’s approved level is $45 million — the figure the House Appropriations proposal would now cut back to $15 million.
The proposed EAC operational budget of $17 million would represent the agency’s lowest funding level in recent years, limiting its capacity to support state and local election administrators.
Reaction from Lawmakers
Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee criticized the proposed reductions as inconsistent with Republican rhetoric on election security. Rep. Steny Hoyer, who played a role in creating the EAC more than two decades ago, said the party cannot credibly warn about election fraud while simultaneously cutting the resources allocated to protecting elections.
Rep. Sanford Bishop took a sharper tone, arguing that the budget cuts undermined the stated commitment to election security. “If my colleagues truly cared about protecting our elections from foreign interference, they’d put the resources behind it,” Bishop said. “Instead, we get empty rhetoric, zero urgency, while putting the right of citizens to vote at risk.”
Republican supporters of the budget reductions have pointed to the SAVE America Act as evidence of their commitment to election integrity, framing stricter voter ID and citizenship verification requirements as the more pressing need. Supporters of the grant program counter that the two efforts address different risks and are not interchangeable.
Zoom Out
The debate over election administration funding reflects a broader national disagreement over what election security actually means in practice. Some states and counties have used federal grants to replace outdated voting equipment, harden cybersecurity infrastructure, and train election workers — functions that are difficult to fund at the local level alone. For context on how lawmakers are approaching related election integrity measures, a recent recount in Arkansas’s Secretary of State Republican primary confirmed original results, underscoring the continued scrutiny applied to election administration at the state level.
What’s Next
The spending bill containing the proposed EAC cuts must still clear the full House and pass the Senate before becoming law. The SAVE America Act faces a separate legislative path in the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain. Appropriations negotiations between the two chambers are expected to continue over the coming months, with final funding levels likely to be determined as part of broader fiscal year 2027 budget talks.