Speaker Johnson open to deal on Secret Service funding boost

House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled Wednesday that he could strike a deal with Democrats to provide the Secret Service with more funding, despite skepticism among GOP lawmakers that money is needed to address security lapses that led to two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.

The House also will vote this week on a bipartisan bill to require party presidential nominees to receive the same level of Secret Service protection as a sitting president.

Secret Service officials on Wednesday insisted in a closed-door briefing at the Capitol that Mr. Trump already had presidential-level protection, according to lawmakers who attended.

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, shared in the skepticism about giving the Secret Service more money but said he would be willing to do it if the agency proves a need. 

“If they need additional funding, Congress will supply that,” he said. “But we’re told it’s a manpower problem.” 

He added, “Even if we gave them $3 billion tomorrow, it’s impossible to hire 2,500 new Secret Service agents in a short period of time. We are less than 50 days out from the election.”

The speaker’s comments follow remarks from the other top congressional leaders — Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican; and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat — saying they’re willing to provide the Secret Service with a funding boost to shore up protection heading into the Nov. 5 election.

The Secret Service’s current annual budget is $3.1 billion. Congress is negotiating the terms of a government stopgap that would extend current funding for three to six months, so discussions about the Secret Service budget concern what would be needed on top of that prorated annual amount.

Sen. Christopher Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Secret Service’s budget, said discussions are underway with the Secret Service about a one-time emergency cash infusion in the “hundreds of millions” to cover short-term security needs through the election and inauguration.

“I think it’s going to be a really dangerous time in American politics, and the Secret Service is going to need to be creative about how to spread itself wider than it has,” he said. “We’re talking to them about increased overtime, potential partnerships with other agencies that can share some resources, some additional technology that they can buy quickly.”

The overtime pay is especially important to address the manpower issue, which could become worse without more funding, Mr. Murphy said.

“They’re burning these agents really brightly right now,” he said. “There’s a real concern that you’re going to have attrition because of the existing overtime requirements. You could have agents leave between now and the inauguration if we don’t do something to help with overtime, help with getting them some assistance from other agencies.”

Separate from the funding issue, Mr. Johnson and other GOP lawmakers have called for Mr. Trump to immediately receive the same level of Secret Service protection as a sitting president.

The speaker called the White House on Tuesday to request President Biden direct the agency to do that. The bill the House will vote on this week underscores that demand.

Under the bill, the enhanced security would apply to both Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the Secret Service can shift resources to provide greater protection without more money. 

“Every year since 2017, Congress has added more money to the Secret Service’s budget than they even requested in their budget. And so it’s not an issue of money,” the Louisiana Republican said. “What they’re doing with the money, we’ve had a lot of serious questions about before the first assassination attempt.”