The questions are always the same.
Be it after the superstorm Sandy that devastated the northeast of the USA
Or the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Or after the second assassination attempt on a former president.
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Do they have enough money and resources?
Would the federal government provide enough money to help New York City and the Northeast rebuild after the massive hurricane swept through the nation’s most densely populated corridor? Mudslides destroyed roads and bridges in Vermont. The storm flooded subway stations in the Big Apple.
How much will it cost to rebuild the bridge in Baltimore? The bill will be due in a year or two.
And so the question now lands with the Secret Service after a gunman attempted to shoot former President Trump during a round of golf at Trump International in Palm Beach, Florida. Does the Secret Service have the money it needs? Does it need more resources?
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said his agency has “done more with less for decades.” Rowe says “we have an immediate need now.”
Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. speaks to the media at a press conference to provide an update on the investigation into the alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, West Palm Beach, FL, Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
President Biden agrees.
“I want to make one thing clear. The agency needs more help and I think Congress should respond to its needs if it actually needs more services,” the president said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., weighed in.
“We all have to do our part to ensure that an incident like this does not happen again. That means Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the Secret Service and all law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to do their jobs,” Schumer said. “If the Secret Service needs more resources, we are prepared to provide them. Perhaps as part of the upcoming funding agreement.”
This is a reference to the upcoming preliminary budget proposal to avoid a government shutdown, which is due to be presented later this month.
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But on Fox, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) questioned whether this was solely about financial resources. Johnson argued that this was a specific problem of former President Trump. And it was a personnel problem.
“He is the most attacked. He is the most threatened. Probably even more so than when he was in the Oval Office,” Johnson said on Fox. “That’s why we in the House are demanding that he be given every resource, and we will provide more if necessary. I don’t think it’s a question of funding. I think it’s a question of allocating personnel.”
On Tuesday, Johnson was no longer convinced about the idea of showering the Secret Service with additional money.
“We don’t want to just throw more money into a broken system,” Johnson said.
Other conservatives called for increased funding for the Secret Service.
Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office, Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. of the U.S. Secret Service, and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office participate in a press conference regarding an alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on September 16, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The FBI and U.S. Secret Service, along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, are investigating the incident, which the FBI says “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump” while he was playing golf at Trump International Golf Club. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“We don’t need to shove more money down the Secret Service’s throat. We need new leadership,” Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri said on Fox Business.
“We need answers more than the Secret Service needs money. In the real world, if you don’t do your job, you get fired. In the world of Washington, common sense is illegal. If you don’t do your job, you get more money because you obviously need it. You don’t have enough,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana). “What the Secret Service needs to do now is simple: It needs to do better.”
There have been rumors that lawmakers might try to inject money into the Secret Service by tying it to a yet-to-be-passed provisional spending bill (a so-called CR) to prevent a government shutdown in two weeks.
Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida had called on former President Trump to disband the Secret Service and use private security forces, and sharply criticized the idea.
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“The American people are not stupid. They see things for what they are. They’re trying to attach a shiny bill to this CR to get it passed, when the reality is that’s not really what needs to happen. We need to stop the irresponsible spending,” Mills said on Fox Business.
“No. No. No. No. We don’t need any additional funding,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan). “They have enough personnel. They have enough money. They have to prioritize where they put those Secret Service agents.”
But it is not easy to find the right people and assign them to the right positions with the right tasks.
“You don’t just hire them off the street,” argued Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).
At a House hearing before her resignation following the Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified that she needed 9,500 employees, but the agency only had 8,000 employees.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, at the Capitol in Washington on Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Still, some Republicans were more positive about a cash injection for the agency.
“They seem to need more resources,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., adding that former President Trump had indicated he needed more agents. “There’s only one way to do that: You have to have enough money to hire enough agents. If you can even find enough people willing to do that.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Senate committee that decides on Secret Service finances, argues that the threat level is so dangerous that lawmakers are demanding that the agency get “creative” when it comes to finding appropriate funds to protect those it protects.
The House is close to rejecting a preliminary budget plan pushed by Johnson to fund the government through next spring. The bill also requires citizens to prove their citizenship to vote, a measure that is likely to fail. So the Senate could counter with a bill to fund the government — and build in support for the Secret Service.
Johnson denied that the House would be stuck with the Senate if the House failed. But remember, Jane’s Addiction members get along better than some House Republicans. Johnson doesn’t have the votes to pass his own bill, so if the Senate passes a bill with the help of the Secret Service, the House may just have to take it to avoid a government shutdown.
“If an increase in funding is part of the solution, I’m all for it,” said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “It would be politically beyond stupid if we shut down the government just before the election, because we would certainly get blamed.”
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with reporters after a meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP)
So it’s the same question that comes up after every crisis: Could money solve the problem? It’s natural that Congress often responds with money. The spending authority is the highest power on Capitol Hill.
Will more dollars help?
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If Congress spends the money and no further security breaches occur, lawmakers will argue that the extra money was worth it.
But if Congress spends the money and something else happens, it will probably spend even more Money.
