USSS makes pitch for more resources while Congress seeks to hold them responsible

Acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe has made a concerted effort to put himself front and center after Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s Florida golf course, as he makes his pitch, both publicly and privately, for Congress to provide his agency with more resources.

Acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe has made a concerted effort to put himself front and center after Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s Florida golf course, as he makes his pitch, both publicly and privately, for Congress to provide his agency with more resources. But lawmakers are still contending with whether the Secret Service is underfunded or simply mismanaged, and many have questions about what meaningful security improvements can be made 48 days before the presidential election to an organization under whose watch two apparent assassination attempts have occurred against a former president roughly 60 days apart. Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said his panel has asked the Secret Service to “get creative” in its requests for additional resources, adding that “they can’t hire new Secret Service agents to make a difference between now and the inauguration.” Murphy said that Senate appropriators have asked the agency to look at additional overtime costs as one option, and that the Secret Service has “come to us with some good ideas,” citing technology like drones. One possibility being discussed, according to sources, is to include additional funding to the government funding extension, which needs to pass by September 30. Senate appropriators and the Biden administration are in talks about how much money to add to the upcoming stopgap bill for USSS, telling CNN it could be “hundreds of millions of dollars” to plus-up their budget, or it could be language allowing the agency to spend its existing money faster. There is an uneasiness, however, about providing more money to an agency, whose budget has increased in the past decade, that has not been fully held accountable or shown that the issues that led to both apparent assassination attempts have been fixed.