Democratic lawmakers overseeing federal elections have accused the Trump administration of failing to release more than $39.6 million allocated by Congress to protect US election infrastructure ahead of the November midterms.
Senator Alex Padilla of California and Representative Joseph Morelle of New York have written to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Nick Anderson, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), demanding that the money be restored to programmes intended to help state and local election officials defend against cyber attacks and disinformation.
The letter comes with the midterm elections less than two months away. The lawmakers said delays had left officials with insufficient time to prepare for threats to voting systems and public confidence in the result.
“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,” they wrote.
The funding was included in the Department of Homeland Security’s fiscal year 2026 appropriations legislation, which was signed into law on April 30. A Senate appropriations report specified that the $39.61 million should support election security advisers in each of CISA’s ten regions and continue the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, known as EI-ISAC.
EI-ISAC had provided free intelligence and advice to election offices across the US, including state, local, tribal and territorial authorities. The service helped officials identify and respond to attempts to compromise election infrastructure, but became restricted after funding and staff cuts in 2025.
Padilla and Morelle said the centre had been forced to offer only limited services through a paid membership model, placing support beyond the reach of “under-resourced communities”. They also pointed to the removal of hundreds of CISA employees and efforts by the administration to reduce the agency’s budget.
Election security funding under pressure
The concerns follow a budget proposal from the Trump administration that sought to eliminate CISA’s election security programme. The agency’s own fiscal year 2026 budget documents said the proposed reduction would remove 14 posts and $39.6 million, end the regional election security adviser network and discontinue EI-ISAC.
The lawmakers argued that the risk had become more complicated since Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Iran, China, Russia and other foreign and non-state actors have developed increasingly sophisticated cyber and online influence capabilities, they said, while artificial intelligence is making it easier to identify weaknesses in computer code and produce convincing disinformation.
They also cited a rise in cyber attacks against critical infrastructure and ongoing conflict involving the US and Iran. The letter referred to reported attacks on American water infrastructure and nuclear facilities in the UK, although it did not provide further details.
Election officials have previously warned that the greatest danger may not be the large-scale alteration of votes, but attempts to steal information, disrupt services or spread false claims designed to undermine trust in the result.
Padilla, the senior Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, and Morelle, the senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said the administration was unlikely to rebuild confidence among election officials before November. They nevertheless insisted that DHS and CISA were legally obliged to distribute the funding approved 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.
DHS and CISA had not responded to requests for comment.
