White House in August asked Congress to enhance Secret Service funding through election
By Kayla Tausche, CNN
Washington (CNN) — The Biden administration submitted a special request to congressional committees in August asking for a boost to funding for the US Secret Service in the weeks leading up to and after the 2024 election, according to sources familiar with the matter, warning of “insufficient resources” for the agency if the request isn’t granted.
The Office of Management and Budget submitted the so-called anomaly request, which includes the White House’s proposed additions to the standard contents of a short-term funding bill, after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, the sources told CNN.
Congress and the White House are largely expected to negotiate a deal in the coming weeks to fund the government for a period of several months, lasting at least through the election, through a package known as a continuing resolution, or “CR.”
The White House’s funding request, sources said, notes that if the change is not granted, the Secret Service would have “insufficient resources to sustain and enhance protective operations” during that period of time.
A detailed amount of ramped-up spending was not specified in the request, which called instead for more flexible language that allows the Department of Homeland Security to provide funding “at a rate of operations necessary to continue protective and presidential campaign operations during the CR period.”
Federal agencies customarily submit such requests to the Office of Management and Budget ahead of negotiations over short-term government funding. They detail an administration’s desired sidebars to the standard language of a continuing resolution, often serving as a warning that certain programs could be under-resourced if funding stayed at the prior year’s levels, even for a short period of time.
In prior years, the administration has bundled these requests with supplemental funding for disaster relief, Covid-19 and military aid for Ukraine, which made them more politically unpalatable on Capitol Hill.
The language proposed by the Biden administration for enhanced Secret Service funding through the 2024 election has appeared in at least one Republican-sponsored funding bill, lending credence to the belief that such an effort would see bipartisan support on the Hill.
In a radio interview that aired Tuesday, President Joe Biden reiterated his belief that the Secret Service needs more personnel to handle an elevated threat environment for political candidates.
“One of the things is we need more resources,” Biden said. “We need more agents, we need more protection, we need to expand the availability of help.”
Biden described the climate as “up across the board,” describing how increased security had changed his style of campaigning.
“Everything’s frightening,” he said.
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