The House Oversight Committee is asking the Federal Protective Services, which provides security at about 9,000 federal facilities, for information on how it protects federal employees in light of an increase in threats against its workforce.   

  The rise in threats follows the FBI’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and the passage of the Anti-Inflation Act.   

  Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, D-Massachusetts and subcommittee chairman, outlined in a letter to Federal Protection Agency Director L. Eric Patterson their belief that rhetoric from Republican leaders contributed in a spike in threats to federal employees nationwide.   

  “We are concerned that GOP leaders have promoted false conspiracy theories and fueled violent threats against federal workers, putting the lives of law enforcement officials and other patriotic public servants at risk,” Maloney and Lynch write.   

  After the Mar-a-Lago investigation, Maloney and Lynch say Trump and Republican members of Congress “made reckless statements that demonize federal law enforcement officers and even hint at possible violence.”   

  The letter echoes a recent speech by Trump, in which he called the Justice Department and the FBI “vicious monsters” and warned that the criminal investigation into the removal of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago “will cause a backlash like no one has see again”.  The letter also points to an August interview Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina gave to Fox News, where he said there would be “riots in the streets” if Trump was prosecuted in the case.   

  Right-wing Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona tweeted shortly after the investigation, “we must destroy the FBI.”   

  “This flood of misinformation and violent threats against federal employees has already resulted in at least one death.  Last month, dangerous anti-FBI rhetoric in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago investigation led to attacks on federal law enforcement, including an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio,” Maloney and Lynch write.  They add that in the days following the Mar-a-Lago investigation, FPS reportedly warned of “an increase in threats expressed on social media against the FBI and, to a lesser extent, other government and law enforcement agencies.”   

  Separately, the letter also cites examples of top Republicans suggesting that implementing the inflation-reduction law, which will lead to additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service, will be harmful to Americans.   

  Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the Senate Republican campaign, claimed in an August news release that passage of the Inflation Reduction Act would lead to 87,000 new IRS agents who would be “primarily armed” to to “create a super-police force” willing to “kill” “fellow working Americans”.  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted: “New Democrat army of 87,000 IRS agents coming for you.”  Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa told Fox News that the new funding would provide a strike force that “participates with AK-15s [sic] already loaded, all ready to shoot some small business man in Iowa.”   

  CNN reported that the funding will help support the work of the IRS — including, but not limited to, audits — and in turn is expected to bring in more federal tax revenue to help offset the costs of the Democrats’ plan to lower prescription drug costs. medicines and the fight against climate change.  The agency’s budget had shrunk by more than 15 percent over the past decade.  As a result, staffing levels and audit rates have been declining for years, which became even more apparent to taxpayers during the Covid-19 pandemic when it could not keep up with returns.   

  Democrats and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig — who was appointed by former President Donald Trump — have repeatedly said the intent is not to target the middle class, but to focus on making sure wealthy tax evaders comply with the law.  It is ultimately up to the IRS how the money is used.   

  On August 23, 2022, the letter states, Rettig allegedly warned IRS staff of “an abundance of misinformation and false posts on social media” about the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included “threats directed at IRS and its employees.”  As a result, Rettig said the IRS will conduct a physical security risk assessment of the IRS’s 600 facilities.   

  Other federal agencies have also warned officials of an increase in threats from the National Archives and Records Administration, to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, and even the Environmental Protection Agency.   

  “We fully support the First Amendment rights of all Americans to share their views and engage in lively debate about the actions of the US government, but threats of violence and incitement to violence are illegal and dangerous,” write Maloney and Lynch.   

  Maloney and Lynch ask Patterson what steps the Federal Protection Agency has already taken and express their concerns that the financial resources available to FPS are insufficient to address the current threat environment.  Currently, the FPS is funded through a basic security fee paid by federal agencies from their congressionally appropriated funds.