Following two apparent assassination attempts targeting Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, the House voted Friday to enact a measure strengthening Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The result was a 4-0 vote.
Uniform criteria for the protection of presidents, vice presidents, and prominent presidential and vice presidential candidates are directed to be applied by the Secret Service director under this measure.
Two apparent assassination attempts on Trump—one at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on July 13 and another at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida on September 15—have put the Secret Service under scrutiny in Congress.
After passing the House, the measure must now go to the Senate for final approval before it can be signed into law.
At a briefing the day after the incident on September 15, Ronald Rowe Jr., acting director of the US Secret Service, stated that “the Secret Service moved to increase assets to an already enhanced security posture for the former president” in response to the first assassination attempt on July 13.
Over the next several days, President Biden made his desire for extreme security for Vice President Harris and former President Trump abundantly obvious. In response to rising asset values and requested levels of protection, the Secret Service took action. And those were all in place yesterday,” he emphasized.
The bill’s Senate fate is still up in the air, in part because numerous Democrats have brought up the fact that Trump currently has better security than he needs.
New York Republican Mike Lawler and New York Democrat Ritchie Torres co-introduced the bill (HR 9106).
After the vote, Torres spoke with AWN and expressed his “cautiously optimistic” hope that the bill will be approved by the Senate and signed into law.
He emphasized the importance of bipartisanship in the Senate and the House, urging both chambers to unite behind a shared principle: the right of major party presidential candidates to the highest level of presidential protection, specifically secret service protection.
According to an AWN source with first-hand knowledge of the plan, the House bill will formalize President Joe Biden’s actions and the steps he took to accomplish them. This security can be extended by the president to any other presidential or vice presidential candidate whom they have previously authorized the Secret Service to protect, according to the statute.
In a recent radio appearance, Biden advocated for increased funding for the Secret Service.
More resources are required. Following what appears to have been a second attempt on Trump’s life, the president expressed the need for additional agents, increased security, and a wider range of assistance.
Since the purported assassination attempt at Trump’s Florida golf estate, Rowe has been actively courting Congress to increase funding for his organization in both public and private settings.
There have been two apparent assassination attempts against a former president about 60 days apart, and lawmakers are still arguing and contending over whether the Secret Service is underfunded or mismanaged. Many also wonder what real security improvements the agency can receive before the presidential election.
Reports indicate that discussions are underway over the potential addition of extra funds to a government funding extension that is due by September 30. Senate appropriators and Biden administration officials are currently discussing the amount of funding to be added to the impending USSS stopgap bill. According to AWN, the budget may be increased by “hundreds of millions of dollars” or the agency might be granted speedier spending authority with the current funding.
House investigators are quietly trying to broaden their investigation into the second apparent assassination attempt in addition to the first, which occurred during Trump’s rally on July 13.
According to task force chair and Republican Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, “(The Secret Service) should know how to ask for what it is that they need, and be able to justify why they are asking for it, to substantiate, come up with the reason why you’re looking for something.” This statement was made on Wednesday in reference to the agency’s request for additional funding from Congress.