WASHINGTON — Five days after the second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, the House on Friday unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would boost Secret Service protection for the two parties’ presidential nominees, Trump and Kamala Harris, as well as their vice presidential running mates.
The vote was 405-0. It required two-thirds support of the House to pass because it came to the floor under an expedited process. In a separate action, lawmakers also passed a resolution expanding the scope of the bipartisan House task force investigating the July 13 Trump assassination attempt to include the second incident.
The bill’s passage comes as lawmakers grapple over how to address the growing threats of violence against major political figures in the U.S. ahead of the November election. Some lawmakers have called for more Secret Service funding, while others said the Secret Service could be more effective by shifting resources.
Specifically, the Enhanced Presidential Security Act — introduced by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. — would require the Secret Service to “apply the same standards for determining the number of agents required to protect Presidents, Vice Presidents, and major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates.”
The bill is just three pages long and gives the Secret Service broad discretion on how to figure out staffing levels. But if it's signed into law, Trump and Harris would be granted the same standard of Secret Security protection as President Joe Biden.
“We as a federal government have a responsibility to ensure the safety and the well-being of these candidates. One of them is going to be president, and the election should be decided by voters at the ballot box — not by an assassin’s bullet,” Lawler told reporters.
“And if the argument by the Secret Service is that they don’t have enough resources or they don’t have enough manpower,” he said, “then that needs to be addressed immediately.”
Despite the big bipartisan House vote, it’s unclear how the Senate will handle the issue of security. Appropriators from both chambers are discussing whether to include additional funding for the Secret Service in the stopgap funding bill Congress must pass by Sept. 30 to avert a government shutdown.
Biden said this week that the Secret Service "needs more help" and called on Congress to act. And both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have committed to getting the Secret Service what they need.
This week, GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a Trump ally who represents the state where the FBI said a second attempt on Trump’s life occurred, rolled out a companion bill to the one passed by the House Friday. All 12 co-sponsors of Scott's Protect Our Presidents Act are Republicans.
“Over the course of just 65 days, two deranged individuals have tried to kill President Donald Trump, and one was able to shoot him in the head,” Scott said in a statement. “It is unthinkable that this could happen in America today, and it demands the immediate action of Congress.”
Some senators, however, suggested the bill may not be necessary, saying Trump already has the same level of security that Biden does.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he wants the Secret Service to provide “clarification of what the current practices are” to confirm that. “I don’t understand why there would ever be any difference between the protection provided to President Biden, Vice President Harris, and President Trump," Cornyn said. "I think it should all be the same, and we shouldn’t have to pass a law to do that."
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill, added, “No, there isn’t” a need to pass the House bill, noting that Trump " already has protection.”
Torres, the bill's main Democratic co-sponsor, pushed back on Durbin: "He's wrong. Two assassination attempts demonstrate the need for the legislation."
"We're confident it will happen" in the Senate, Torres added. "The vote was unanimous. I mean rarely does bipartisan legislation command unanimous approval from across the ideological spectrum."
Secret Service officials have briefed congressional leaders and key committees about the second attempt on Trump in less than 10 weeks. On Sunday, a Secret Service agent opened fire on the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, after spotting a rifle poking out of the bushes outside the course where Trump was golfing near his Mar-a-Lago club.
After the incident, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said the agency needs to undergo a complete overhaul of how it protects presidents.
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Following the first Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, Rowe wrote to top lawmakers on Sept. 5 that the security failure there was not a result of inadequate resources. But Rowe argued that his agency needs more and better resources to respond to the threats against its protectees.
"The threat environment and expanding protection requirements necessitate a paradigm shift in the Secret Service’s levels of protection, readiness, and sustainability," Rowe wrote.
"We have taken necessary steps to meet the operational tempo of the protective mission today," he continued, "but the increased mission requirements of the Secret Service necessitate additional resources to ensure that we have the tools, resources, and personnel needed to meet these new requirements and execute our mission going forward."
The Secret Service's budget has grown steadily in recent years. Congress appropriated $3.1 billion for the Secret Service for the current 2024 fiscal year, which was $265.6 million above funding for fiscal year 2023 and significantly more than the $1.8 billion appropriated a decade ago.
