Congress members will now be permitted to use campaign cash to hire bodyguards, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruled Thursday, after hours of debate. Under the FEC ruling, House and Senate members may use campaign funds to hire private security personnel without violating the prohibition on personal use, for occasions when they aren’t under the protection of Capitol law enforcement on the Hill. It comes amid heightened concern about the safety of lawmakers amid the tense political climate across the country and the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol building. The Department of Justice said late January that more than 150 people have been charged over the incident. “I’ve never thought of us as a country where the leadership of the country had to be surrounded by armed guards and needed to keep the public at arm’s length at all times,” Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said Thursday, Politico reported. The …