WASHINGTON — Congress is considering increasing funding for the Secret Service. The FBI called it the second deadly attack on former President Donald Trump in 10 weeks.
Leaders of both parties and top appropriators say one possibility is to attach emergency funds for the Secret Service to a short-term funding bill that Congress must pass by Sept. 30 to avert a government shutdown.
But they are also considering another option: allowing the Secret Service to shift resources and spend more money to protect protected individuals in the final stages of the campaign.
“Congress has a responsibility to make sure the Secret Service and all law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to do their jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a speech Monday. “So, as we continue the appropriations process, if the Secret Service needs more resources, we are ready. [provide] This is possible 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 on Monday that Congress is open to increasing funding. But she also pointed to a letter sent to top appropriators by acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe on September 5 that said the security failures in the first attempt to assassinate Trump on July 13 were not the result of inadequate resources.
,[T]The letter further states that, nevertheless, they need more funding in certain areas. So, I'm sure the subcommittee will look at this closely,” Collins said, referring to the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees homeland security matters. “Nobody would want to deprive the Secret Service of the funding it needs, as long as it is appropriate.”
Collins said it’s possible the funding boost is tied to a temporary funding measure that is set to pass this month, but “it’s also possible we simply shift the money around.”
Congress appropriated $3.1 billion for the Secret Service for the current fiscal year 2024, up from $265.6 million for fiscal year 2023 and significantly more than the $1.8 billion appropriated a decade ago.
Other Republicans said it was clear something had to change.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said, “The Republican candidate has already been shot once. Wake up, we have a oil leak.”
A spokesman for Speaker Mike Johnson declined to say whether the House was considering tying more funding for the Secret Service to a continuing resolution, and pointed to his appearance on Fox News on Monday where he called for Trump to move more personnel.
Johnson said in the interview that Trump needed more protection than anyone else: “He's been attacked the most. He's in the most danger, possibly even more than when he was in the Oval Office. So we in the House are demanding that he have every resource available, and we'll provide more resources if necessary. I don't think it's a funding issue. I think it's a manpower allocation issue.”
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 more money.
“That's always the solution, right? The problem is the 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 Trump's outdoor rallies put a greater strain on resources, but “there are plenty of people in federal law enforcement you can move, train quickly, and they can do their job.”
Democrats said they are open to the Secret Service if it formally asks for more money. “If they ask for additional resources for the security services, there will be no debate about it here,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., told NBC News.
And Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, agreed that both parties would be “very favorable” to any funding request from the Secret Service.
Trump's Secret Service team on Sunday thwarted what the FBI described as a second attempt to assassinate him while he was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A Secret Service agent shot at suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who fled in an SUV. An AK-47-style rifle was recovered from the golf course, and Routh was arrested and charged with federal gun crimes.
Earlier on Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with Trump by phone and said “thank God” he was okay. Biden called on Congress to approve more funding to allow the Secret Service to hire more personnel.
He said, “I want to make one thing very clear: the Secret Service needs more help. I think Congress should pay attention to their needs.”
The Trump campaign has also sought additional security for him amid deadly threats. Two sources told NBC News that the campaign asked the Secret Service for increased security on Monday morning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump golfing partner, said he has played with Trump at that golf course “dozens of times” and that the agent who stopped the man with the gun did his job. But he said Trump escaped because of luck.
“How can you say the system was working when a guy was able to get an AK-47 through the bushes over the fence and it was just good luck that he got the barrel out so the guy could see it?” Graham told reporters. He added that he didn't know what exactly the agency needed to do. “I don't know. All I know is that from now until Election Day we have to protect these two guys.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D.C. (Conn.), who also serves on the Homeland Security Committee, said he is eyeing sweeping changes at the agency.
“We’re going to look more broadly at the effectiveness of the Secret Service as a security agency and whether it’s operating the way it should,” he said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security has been obstructing the committee’s investigation since the first attempt to assassinate Trump. “I’m actually disappointed, outraged by the Department of Homeland Security’s failure to turn over the evidence that we specifically sought.”
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.