Republican lawmakers want answers, possible investigations and heightened security for high-level events after a suspected gunman was halted just feet from the ballroom of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members were gathered.

Some members of Congress said Monday it proves the urgent need to green-light Trump’s East Wing ballroom, while others said they have outstanding questions about how a gunman could have gotten so close to an event that included some of the most high-ranking government officials.

“I do think we need hearings. We need some sort of oversight,” said Rep. Mark Alford, a Republican from Missouri. “This is the third time that there’s a potential threat on the president’s life.
And I think each time we’re learning something new, but how many more chances are we going to have to make the adjustments to make sure that this doesn’t happen? We’re running out of time, running out of chances.”

Sen. Josh Hawley told reporters Monday that he wants an update on the manpower and resource shortages described by the Secret Service after Trump was harmed by a gunman at a rally in 2024.

“We need to look at the sequence here,” Hawley said. “This is the third assassination attempt on the president in two years. I think we need to know, what was Secret Service able to achieve in terms of its own sort of restructuring protocols and process from the last two attempts.”

Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, told NOTUS that he and his top-level staffers already received a briefing Monday from Secret Service Director Sean Curran, and that he’s requested one for his whole committee later this week — “Wednesday, maybe.” He said he demanded real answers, and his committee will, too.

“My members get real frustrated when they go down in the SCIF or something, for example, and don’t get any information that they don’t already know,” Comer said, referring to a highly secured room used for classified briefings. “I think they were very forthcoming, and I think they’ll be very forthcoming with the Oversight Committee.”

Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told reporters Monday that he’s considering whether to hold an investigation into what federal law enforcement has determined was an attempt to assassinate Trump and other administration officials.

“We’re looking into it,” Paul said. “Nobody has the security the president has, and it’s very difficult to protect the president, so I acknowledge that. We’re going to look into whether or not, one, they should have been asking for identification and two, did he [the suspect] skip one step” of the security barriers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said though he’s grateful that law enforcement stopped anything serious from happening, there’s a question about how to secure buildings for high-profile events with Trump and administration officials. Thune added that Sen. Chuck Grassley plans to hold a briefing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the shooting.

“So we’ll try and get those questions answered and ensure that all the steps are being taken that can be taken to protect the president and, you know, in this case, key members of his administration, all of whom were threatened by this shooter,” Thune said.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday that he requested a briefing with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.

Republican leadership in the House gave mixed responses when NOTUS asked if they’d like a briefing. Rep. Lisa McClain, the Republican Conference chair, said she’s supposed to receive one. Majority Whip Tom Emmer was indifferent.

“I was there,” Emmer told NOTUS. “I don’t know that I need a briefing.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and the minority whip, said after a briefing from Secret Service officials that he did not believe there was a security lapse during the event, telling reporters that law enforcement did an “excellent job.”

Durbin added that he and Grassley were not yet prepared to decide whether to call on the Secret Service director to testify publicly about the event or launch a probe into the incident –– both actions that happened after a gunman attacked Trump in Pennsylvania in 2024. He said they are waiting to see the results of a full FBI investigation before calling hearings.

“I’m going to leave that question hanging on the table,” Durbin said. “I’m not going to make any decision right now, until more information is gathered. After the event, the whole scene is turned over to the FBI from the Secret Service. They’re going through an extensive investigation at this point. I think it’s a little early.”

Lawmakers returning to the Capitol on Monday praised law enforcement for halting the alleged gunman before he entered the ballroom. Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters Monday that it’s easy to criticize police, but it’s important to remember they were able to keep officials safe.

“All I know is from the time that there was a shot, by the time the president was on the ground, they were taking them out, it was a matter of seconds,” Tillis said. “You can always do better. But it looks like from a standing start, they did pretty well.”

Sen. John Kennedy said that security was “fine” and law enforcement officials “did their jobs.”

“An overeducated, underemployed, self-righteous punk went on a suicide mission and he was stopped — never got near the president,” Kennedy told reporters. “End of story.”

Some lawmakers said the solution to such a near-miss incident is congressional approval for Trump’s proposed ballroom at the White House.

Paul said he would introduce a bill on Tuesday to allow the privately funded project to move forward and make it easier for Congress to approve future White House projects.

Paul said that he would ask for the bill to be passed on a voice vote but would also be open to approving the ballroom through a budget reconciliation package with a small amount of government funding if he can’t garner Democratic support.

The reconciliation process requires a simple majority for passage in the Senate, allowing Republicans to bypass Democratic resistance.

“In the past, things for the White House have required money, so they went through appropriations,” Paul said. “This one doesn’t, but it’d be a way for Congress to put its stamp on its approval. And I’m not against putting in reconciliation and doing a nominal amount.”

Sens. Katie Britt, Lindsey Graham and Eric Schmitt also announced legislation Monday that would back the construction of the ballroom in light of the weekend’s events.

Graham, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said Monday that his bill would greenlight $400 million in federal funding for the ballroom project in addition to allowing private funding to be used. That bill would include funding for security infrastructure under the proposed ballroom.

The Republican from South Carolina said he has asked Republican leaders to “expedite” the bill, and that Democratic Sen. John Fetterman supports the measure. Graham also left the door open to Republicans including the ballroom funding in a budget reconciliation package if Democratic senators don’t support his proposal.

“When the president, the vice president, the speaker of the House and most of the Cabinet meet at the same time, those should be seldom but very secure,” Graham said.

But Thune cast doubt on the idea of funding the ballroom through reconciliation. He was noncommittal on Monday, telling reporters that another reconciliation package was still “a little ways off.”

“I don’t know,” Thune said. “But we’ll see what’s achievable.”