A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to ensure the U.S. Secret Service is able to retroactively compensate agents who have put in long hours to protect President Trump and his family by raising current caps on their salary and overtime allowances, according to a Senate aide with knowledge of the effort.
The federal law enforcement agency has been forced to rapidly expend its resources due to a substantial increase in the number of White House family members under Trump's administration and the frequency of their travel.
"You had a husband and wife that were at home with their two kids, and now you've got a president and first lady with one child at home and the rest of the family spread between here and New York," a Secret Service spokesman Mason Bryman told the Washington Examiner Tuesday, explaining why the agency has maxed out less than eight months into Trump's first term.
Agents traveling with Trump or his children often accrue overtime pay during the long hours they spend in the field, in addition to other miscellaneous costs the agency has struggled to cover. For Trump's recent vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., for example, the agency shelled out $13,500 in golf car rentals.
"The Secret Service estimates that roughly 1,100 employees will work overtime hours in excess of statutory pay caps during calendar year 2017," Director Randolph Alles said in a statement Monday, noting that an "overall increase in [the agency's] operational tempo" has contributed to the problem.
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05.16.2024