WASHINGTON — Congress is considering boosting funding for the Secret Service after what the FBI called an apparent second attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life in 10 weeks.
Leaders of both parties and top appropriators say one possibility is to attach emergency funding for the Secret Service to a short-term funding bill that Congress must pass by Sept. 30 to avert a government shutdown.
But they’re also studying another option: giving the Secret Service the opportunity to shift resources and spend more money to guard protectees in the final stretch of the campaign.
“Congress has a responsibility to ensure the Secret Service and all law enforcement have the resources they need to do their jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech Monday. “So, as we continue the appropriations process, if the Secret Service is in need of more resources, we are prepared to [provide] it for them — possibly in the upcoming funding agreement.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vice chair and ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, which drafts funding bills, said Monday that Congress is open to a funding boost. But she also pointed to a letter acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe sent to top appropriators on Sept. 5 saying the security failure in the first Trump assassination attempt on July 13 was not the result of inadequate resources.
“[T]he letter goes on to say that, nevertheless, they do need more funding in certain areas. So, I’m sure the subcommittee’s going to look closely at that,” Collins said, referring to the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees homeland security matters. “Nobody’s going to want to deny the Secret Service the funding that it needs as long as it justifies it.”
Collins added that it is possible the funding boost could be tied to the stopgap funding measure that must pass this month but that “it’s also possible that we could just shift money.”
Congress appropriated $3.1 billion for the Secret Service for the current 2024 fiscal year, which was $265.6 million above funding for fiscal year 2023 and significantly more than the $1.8 billion appropriated a decade ago.
Other Republicans said it’s clear something has to change.
“The Republican nominee has already been shot once. Wake up, we’re leaking oil here,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
A spokesman for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declined to say whether the House is considering linking more Secret Service funding to a continuing resolution and pointed to his appearance Monday on Fox News, where he called for more personnel to be shifted to Trump.
Johnson said in the interview that Trump needs more protection than anyone else: “He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office. So we are demanding in the House that he have every asset available, and we will make more available if necessary. I don’t think it’s a funding issue. I think it’s a manpower allocation.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Secret Service, was also adamant that the Secret Service does not need any more money.
“That’s always the solution, isn’t it? Got a problem, federal government spends more money. Well, we’re $35 trillion in debt,” said Johnson, a close Trump ally and former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
He said that Trump’s outdoor rallies put more strain on resources but that “there are plenty of people in federal law enforcement that you could transfer over, train rapidly, and they can do the job.”
Democrats said they would be on board if the Secret Service formally requested more money. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., told NBC News that “if they ask for additional resources for protection services, there’s going to be no arguing about it here.”
And Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, agreed that both parties would be “very amenable” to any Secret Service funding request.
Trump’s Secret Service detail on Sunday thwarted what the FBI characterized as a second apparent assassination attempt on him while he was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A Secret Service agent opened fire on the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who fled in an SUV. An AK-47-style rifle was recovered by the golf course, and Routh was arrested and charged with federal gun crimes.
Earlier Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with Trump on the phone and said “thank God” he was OK. Biden called on Congress to approve more funding to allow the Secret Service to hire more personnel.
“One thing I want to make clear, the Secret Service needs more help. I think Congress should respond to their needs,” he said.
The Trump campaign has also asked for additional security for him amid the deadly threats. Two sources told NBC News that the campaign asked the Secret Service for increased security Monday morning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump golfing buddy, said he has played with Trump at that golf course “dozens of times” and that the agent who intercepted the man with the gun did his job. But he said Trump escaped because of luck.
“How can you say that the system worked when a guy was able to get an AK-47 by the fence in a bunch of bushes and it’s just fortuitous that he stuck the barrel out so the guy could see it?” Graham told reporters, adding that he’s unsure what exactly the agency needs to do. “I don’t know. I just know between now and Election Day we need to protect these two people.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is also on the Homeland Security Committee, said he’s eyeing wholesale changes to the agency.
“We’re going to be looking more broadly at the effectiveness of the Secret Service as a protection agency and whether it is operating in the way that it should,” he said.