WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation’s presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. But it’s unclear how much they can do with just weeks before the election, or whether the extra dollars would make an immediate difference.
The efforts come after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in July, and after Secret Service agents arrested a man with a gun hiding on Trump’s Florida golf course over the weekend. The Florida suspect also apparently tried to kill the GOP presidential candidate.
Democrats and Republicans have been holding talks with the agency this week to determine whether additional resources are needed. And the House is set to vote Friday on legislation that would require the agency to apply the same standards for assigning agents to major presidential and vice presidential candidates as it does to sitting presidents and vice presidents.
“Happiness cannot be a Secret Service strategy to stop these efforts,” said House Speaker Steve Scalise, R-La., who himself was gunned down in 2017 while playing baseball with colleagues. “The Secret Service has to do better.”
With the election fast approaching and Congress set to leave in October, lawmakers are scrambling to figure out what exactly might help. They hope to identify the agency’s most pressing needs while ensuring it’s doing all it can in an era when political violence is increasingly commonplace and every politician is a target.
“We have a responsibility here in Congress to get to the bottom of why these things are happening and what we can do about it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday. “This is not a partisan issue. We have both parties working on it.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that “we need to put the Secret Service in a position where its wards are as protected as possible.”
After the July shooting, Republicans in the House of Representatives created a bipartisan task force focused on investigating the security failures of that day and ensuring they don’t happen again. Johnson said this week that the task force would expand its scope to include what happened in Florida, even though the Secret Service successfully apprehended the suspect before anyone was hurt. The House could vote soon on expanding the panel’s mandate.
In a letter earlier this month, the Secret Service told lawmakers that a funding shortage was not the reason for Trump’s security lapses when a gunman climbed onto an unsecured roof at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire on July 13. But acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said this week that the agency had “immediate needs” and was talking to Congress.
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the Democratic chairman of the spending subcommittee that oversees the Secret Service, said Congress wants to make sure that if it spends new dollars, “it will help the situation between now and the inauguration.”
Murphy said new money could go toward technology like drones, partnerships with other agencies that can provide immediate help and overtime for agents. It would likely be attached to an emergency spending bill Congress will consider next week to keep the government running, either in the form of allowing the Secret Service to spend money more quickly or providing it with emergency dollars.
“I’m confident we’re going to get through this one way or another,” Murphy said.
The agency says it is doing what it can. Secret Service officials have told lawmakers behind closed doors that they have already increased Trump’s security to the same level as Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.
“There are a handful of specialized resources that only the commander in chief gets, but the rest of his protections are at the same level,” Spencer Love, a Democratic spokesman for the House task force, said after the agency briefed members on Wednesday.
That could make the GOP House legislation redundant, at least for now. But lawmakers have said they want to make sure Trump is protected after two people tried to end his life.
“I encourage all of my colleagues, regardless of their political views, regardless of whether they like or dislike any of the candidates, to recognize the fundamental fact that we have a responsibility to ensure their safety and well-being, and to let the American people decide who becomes president, not a murderer and not a murderer’s bullet,” said Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, one of the sponsors of the bill that the House will vote on Friday.
In the Senate, Florida Sen. Rick Scott has also introduced a bill that would mandate similar protections for presidential candidates. Both bills would also require regular reports to Congress on the status of the candidates’ protections.
Republicans argue that an overhaul of the agency, and the possible reallocation of officers, should be a higher priority than funding.
Scalise noted this week that the Secret Service’s budget has been increased regularly in recent years.
“It’s not about the money,” Scalise said, “it’s about what they do with the money.”
Rep. Mike Waltz, a Republican on the task force, said he asked the Secret Service on Wednesday what new resources they needed and that they were still evaluating.
“I think it’s irresponsible to just throw money at it when they’re not even sure what they need and how quickly they can get it,” the Florida lawmaker said, adding that he hopes the agency moves to a more threat-based approach to protecting officials and candidates.
However, it is unclear whether Republicans would oppose an increase in funding.
“It’s been implicitly made clear that they’re very busy,” said Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey, a member of the task force. “I know there are people who look at a $3 billion budget and think that should be enough. But when you look at where all those bodies are going, that’s a problem.”
