And now, a message from Google. The spirit of innovation is deeply ingrained in America,

and Google is helping Americans innovate in ways both big and small. Central Texas Regional Mobility

Authority is using Google AI to create smarter tolling systems and improve traffic flow for Texans.

This is a new era of American Innovation. Find out more at g.co slash American Innovation. Good morning. I'm Anna Palmer. And I'm

Jake Sherman. And welcome to the Daily Punch. Brought to you by Punch Bowl News. It's Friday, April 16th,

2021. Let's get into the mix. Here are your Washington headlines of the day. Number one, members are

spending a lot of campaign cash on personal security in the wake of January 6th. Number two, members are

raising boatloads of money.

What's behind these big fundraising numbers?

And number three, there's a push of foot to pay congressional staffers more money.

All right, Jake, this is the money edition.

Happy Friday.

The number one story of the day.

We are scooping here, Punchbowl news, that members are spending a ton of cash and it's all on their own personal security.

Yeah, this is an interesting trend. We've noticed this this week as we've kind of looked over campaign finance reports as they've come in and we've noted it along the way.

You know, Anna, I would say this.

You, me and John Bresenhan, our colleague Bres, have been at this for a long time.

So we tend to notice big bumps in unusual or unique expenditures.

And what we found this week is that a lot of people are spending tens of

thousands of dollars on their personal security, which is nothing's wrong with this. There's

nothing illegal about it. There's nothing improper about it. But it's unusual. I think,

I don't think you've ever noticed this either. But, you know, Pat Toomey, for example, spent $70,000 on security on a company that's called Fortified Estate, which provides refined ballistic doors, windows, walls, and panic rooms.

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