WASHINGTON — While Republicans warn of lean times ahead, many on Capitol Hill are hoping Congress will choose to pony up more money for itself.

Several legislative branch agencies are seeking substantial funding hikes for fiscal 2026, even as the White House proposes steep cuts to domestic spending and foreign aid, as outlined in a detailed request released Friday.

The Capitol Police are asking for $967.8 million, an increase of roughly 20% over current enacted levels, continuing an upward trend that accelerated after a mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I recognize there are other police departments of similar size whose budgets are not as large as ours,” Chief J. Thomas Manger testified at a Senate hearing in May, shortly before his retirement. “But we are not an ordinary law enforcement agency.”

The money would go toward hiring more dignitary protection agents, handling an uptick in threats against members of Congress and their families, and supporting an overall mission that “expanded exponentially” after the Capitol attack, Manger said.

Lawmakers have repeatedly shown their willingness to keep boosting the budget for Congress’ police force. But at the hearing, Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Chair Markwayne Mullin pressed the chief on the Office of Equity and Inclusion (“I’m having a hard time because OEI sounds a lot like DEI,” the Oklahoma Republican said) and issued a warning for legislative branch agencies across the board.

“It’s important that every legislative branch agency is responsible and good stewards of the resources and makes wise choices about priorities,” Mullin said, referencing a budget environment that will require “difficult” decisions.

But he also struck a brighter note. “We can’t forget that we need to support our agencies and their missions,” he said, including keeping the Capitol safe for staff and visitors.

The budget document released by the White House on Friday comes several weeks after a “skinny” version and gives a more detailed view of President Donald Trump’s spending vision, which includes cutbacks to nondefense discretionary spending. While legislative branch requests are included in the document, they are submitted separately and not set by the White House.

The Capitol Police is not the only agency on Capitol Hill requesting budget hikes.

The Government Accountability Office is asking for $933.9 million, or roughly 15% more than current enacted levels. The Congressional Budget Office is calling for $75.8 million, a roughly 8% increase. The Library of Congress wants $946.2 million, a 5% bump.

Those agencies have recently found themselves in the presidential crosshairs as Trump, according to some critics, has encroached on congressional authorities. In May, he fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. (Perlmutter has filed a lawsuit challenging her dismissal.) Shortly thereafter, representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency made attempts to intervene at GAO and other legislative branch agencies. And Trump has aired his displeasure with how CBO has scored his priority legislation, calling it “ridiculous and unpatriotic” and accusing the office of partisan bias.

Agency heads defended the value of their work as they testified before the House and Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittees this spring, with some pointing to changes on Capitol Hill that are making their missions more expensive.

This is the first full budget cycle since the Supreme Court’s move to overturn a precedent known as Chevron deference, in which judges deferred to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Many argued in the wake of that decision that Congress would need to up its capacity to write more precise legislation and ward off statutory disputes.

Warren Burke, who was promoted last year to lead the House Office of the Legislative Counsel, testified that as bill introductions rise overall, the court decision may also be inspiring greater detail.

“That’s an increase in workload … to the extent bills need to be drafted in greater detail than they were before,” Burke told House appropriators in April. His office is asking for $18.4 million in fiscal 2026, a roughly 25% increase over current funding levels, in part to add more attorneys to meet the demand.

Architect of the Capitol Thomas E. Austin testified at a separate hearing that more funding is needed to keep up with tourists returning to the Hill after the pandemic and to address a growing backlog of projects and repairs. The full-year continuing resolution for fiscal 2025 scaled back money for the agency by 12% from the previous level, Austin said. Now he’s asking for $1.3 billion, which would address “both short-term constraints and long-term strategic planning to address pressing infrastructure, security, and operational needs,” he said in written testimony.

Not everyone believes Congress should be directing more money to its own internal operations. Florida Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, for example, has introduced legislation that would cut the Members’ Representational Allowance — the allocation to House members’ offices to pay staff salaries and other expenses — by $100,000 per member. Meanwhile, the MRA proposal for fiscal 2026 is $910.4 million, a 7% increase over the amount provided in the full-year continuing resolution.

Outside advocates are closely watching the fate of the Modernization Initiatives Account, which helps pay for projects aimed at improving the inner workings of Congress. That fund was reduced in the continuing resolution, but many want to see it returned to the $10 million it received in the previous fiscal year.

Efforts like the modernization account will pay off in the long run, according to advocates like J.D. Rackey, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former House staffer.

“As both a political scientist and someone with experience as a staffer, I can confidently say that I know Congress can best execute its Article 1 responsibilities only when it adequately invests in its own capacity,” Rackey said at an April public witness day held by the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee.

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(Jim Saksa contributed to this report.)

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