Senators Britt and Murphy need questions answered before advancing Secret Service funding bill

July 31, 2024 – U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Alabama) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), respectively Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, on Wednesday wrote Acting Director of the Secret Service Ronald L. Rowe Jr. seeking information regarding the U.S. Secret Service's Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budgetary needs.

This comes after the near assassination attempt against former President Donald J. Trump (R). Sens. Britt and Murphy said that this is a needed step before the Senate Committee on Appropriations moves forward on the Fiscal Year 2025 Homeland Security Appropriations Act.

"The Secret Service was first charged with protecting the President of the United States in 1902, and while it has taken on a number of other important missions over time, safeguarding the President and presidential candidates remains one of its core responsibilities," wrote Britt and Murphy. "Recognizing the importance of this mission, Congress provided more than $190 million to the Secret Service in Fiscal Year 2024, specifically for protection requirements related to the 2024 presidential campaign, plus an additional $22 million above President Biden's budget request for protection-related travel costs."

The Senators continued: "Following the assassination attempt on former President Trump, President Biden announced that Secret Service protection will also be provided to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Two vice presidential candidates will now also require protection. As a result, the Secret Service is assuming new protection costs related to the campaign at a time when it already appears to lack sufficient resources to fulfill its protective mission."

The Senators requested that the Secret Service provide answers to several questions regarding the agency's funding needs, including:

• How has the Secret Service obligated the funding provided by Congress for the 2024 Presidential campaign, including travel-related protection expenses? Please detail the amount of this funding obligated to date, and the proposed plan for any remaining balances.

• Did the Secret Service provide a level of protection for former President Trump's Pennsylvania rally equivalent to the protection provided for President Biden's campaign rally in Michigan the previous day? Why or why not?

• The Washington Post and New York Times have reported that the Trump campaign had requested additional Secret Service protection in recent months, but the Secret Service rejected those requests. Did the Trump Campaign request additional protection, including for the Pennsylvania rally? If so, provide the details of the requests, including the dates, the disposition of such requests, and the rationale for each decision.

• Was the security failure at the Pennsylvania rally the result of insufficient resources?

• In addition to providing protection to new presidential and vice presidential candidates, what changes, if any, is the Secret Service considering to its protection practices for the remainder of the presidential campaign?

• Is the Secret Service currently projecting any funding shortfalls for Fiscal Year 2024? If so, provide in detail the basis and rationale of such shortfalls.

• Given the 2024 election will take place in Fiscal Year 2025, do you believe additional resources above those requested in the President's FY25 budget request, will be required to adequately meet the Secret Service mission, including, the protection of presidential candidates, existing protectees, the election certification, and the Inauguration?

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after disastrously bad testimony before a Congressional committee that was asking questions on why the agency failed to put a gunman on the roof of the building that the shooter used to target President Trump and why when the agency had identified the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as a suspicious person to apprehend and yet allowed President Trump to go on stage anyway.

Katie Britt was elected to the Senate in 2022.

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