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The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $10 million to cover costs related to Freedom 250 events recently held on the National Mall, including a prayer event, a fair and a fireworks show.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Mall, said an earlier request from the administration was presented to Congress last week as part of a broader request for short-term funding across the government. That request, which asked for an unspecified amount of funding “to recoup costs associated with support of events celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial,” prompted questions about why the additional funds were needed, Merkley said.

In a briefing with Merkley’s office, Interior Department staff said that the money was needed to cover routine National Park Service costs incurred during the Rededicate 250 prayer event, the Great American State Fair, and the July Fourth Salute to America, according to Merkley.

Those events were organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership launched by the White House in December to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. The group — which has partly supplanted a bipartisan group created by Congress a decade ago to help coordinate anniversary events — has organized initiatives and projects shaped by President Donald Trump, such as the July Fourth fireworks show that Trump pledged would be the largest in history. The Great American State Fair, a 16-day event extolled by the president, was beset by poor weather and saw periods of strikingly low attendance.

Asked about the funding request, the Interior Department told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the extra funding was needed to help address security needs, citing recent threats against high-profile events such as the UFC event held outside the White House and the attempted shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner.

“Given the elevated security threats against high-profile events in Washington, D.C. …an elevated security posture was needed to ensure the safety of the public at these events. This funding would help address the expenditures associated with the elevated security posture,” the department wrote in an email.

Merkley on Tuesday wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking how past funds set aside for Freedom 250 had been spent, in a letter shared with The Post. The One Big Beautiful Bill, which Republicans passed last summer without Democratic votes, set aside $150 million for the Interior Department for events and activities related to the semiquincentennial.

Much of that funding has been redirected to Freedom 250, which has also solicited donors and received financial support from major corporations.

“It is unacceptable to ask the American people to bail out Freedom 250,” Merkley wrote, asking for more details on why the administration was requesting the funds and how past money had been spent. “Congress already appropriated $150 million — without bipartisan input — with the administration promising that private donors would help finance the rest.”

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Mark Roberts was on a Spirit Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Chicago last year when a woman stood up across the aisle before takeoff and greeted her fellow passengers.

She started talking about Jesus with a bright smile, he recalled.

“Super cheery and super excited about everything and ready to have fun,” said Roberts, 25, a content creator and frequent traveler who described the scene on TikTok. “But she was talking about, like, the scariest stories in the Bible.”

To small crowds on airplanes — and often to much larger audiences via social media — self-described evangelists are seizing the opportunity to share their faith with other passengers, whether fellow travelers asked for the word or not.

“They have no choice but to hear the truth,” said Whitney Lynn, an evangelist, producer and singer-songwriter from Orlando who said she preaches on most flights she takes, filming the proclamations for social media. “When I have a gift and I have a life raft, if you’re drowning, I want to give you that life raft so you can be saved.”

A video she posted earlier this month showed a postflight preaching session given as passengers waited to disembark in San Diego. Almost no one looked around as Lynn, 40, spoke for a little over a minute about the weather, Jesus, sin, hell, redemption and heaven. Beneath the clip, she wrote: “I just love a captive audience.”

There have been viral guitar-led worship services in the air, hours-long prayer and song sessions, and quick messages during a flight delay. Where some people see admirable boldness, many recoil at the thought of an unwanted sermon.

“That would be my nightmare,” someone wrote in response to an “open air airplane preaching” video posted on TikTok in June. “Can’t even walk away.”

“The way I would open that emergency exit,” another person wrote. Someone else weighed in: “This is why I drive.”

Airline policies differ slightly depending on the carrier, but they generally require passengers to obey the instructions of flight crews and avoid offensive, annoying or disruptive behavior. Airlines do not specifically address preaching on flights.

Brett Raio, 24, a Maine-based music artist and producer, said he has been nervous before urging people to seek Jesus on planes. But he feels compelled to follow the biblical teaching to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creatures. He said he only speaks up on a plane when he feels led by God to do so, and takes seriously the thought that anyone could be spending their last day on Earth.

“You might not listen to God then that person goes and perishes,” he said of his motivation. “God had you there for that specific opportunity and you missed your shot.”

Often, plane preachers say, their messages are met with affirmations and amens — even from some flight attendants. But there are also in-person protests, not to mention pushback online.

“I’ve gotten cursed at, I’ve gotten heckled, ‘shut up,’ ‘sit down,’” said Lynn, who is also an influencer. “I’ve gotten eye rolls.”

She said Las Vegas tourists have been an especially tough crowd since she calls out “Sin City” specifically. She also documented an instance where police responded to a call about her preaching in an airport.

Writer and retired pastor Rodney Kennedy, who calls himself a “progressive preacher,” is not a fan of plane evangelism. He wrote a criticism of the practice after a widely viewed video in 2022 showed people singing praise songs during a flight.

“I don’t have any problems with people articulating their faith,” he said. “But I think it requires a relationship and level of trust and a level of permission.”

Kennedy said there’s a history of American evangelicals declaring their faith in public places; he was required to preach on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during his own seminary experience. Christians might feel they are failing to be true disciples if they don’t share their faith publicly.

But Kennedy said he thinks the message doesn’t reach the target when it’s forced on an audience.

“I think that ultimately it’s a turnoff and it kind of reinforces the ideas that they already had about Christians,” he said.

On the Spirit flight Roberts took last year, he said a flight attendant told the preacher across the aisle from him to sit down, and she complied quietly. But after the plane took off, Roberts said she got up with her Bible and started blessing people, including him. He thought he felt liquid and saw her moving her hands.

“I could have sworn it was holy water,” Roberts said. “That’s what it gave.”

She didn’t get far before a flight attendant walked her back to her seat, Roberts said. He said the passenger seemed like she was on a mission.

“She’s probably like an honest person meaning no harm, but maybe she just didn’t see how she was being a little bit too pushy,” he said. “We’re a trapped audience and I feel like if you want to get a message across, maybe try to do it more so people have agency in a way.”