The United States Secret Service Runs Out Of Money

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The United States is experiencing a historic moment when things are seen that have never been seen before, and on many levels. Most recent: The Secret Service is running out of funds.

Today it became known that the institution can no longer afford the hundreds of officers it needs to carry out an expanded protection mission - largely due to the size of the family of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the efforts necessary to secure their multiple residences around the country.

In an interview with the USA Today newspaper, the director of the Secret Service, Randolph "Tex" Alles, said that more than 1,000 agents have already reached the federal budget limit for their salaries and overtime allowances that were meant to last the entire year.

According to Alles, the agency has faced a crushing workload since the heyday of the election season, and it has continued in the first seven months of the new government.

What has caused the one-year funds that this entity had to be liquidated in record time? The newspaper pointed to the fact that the President has traveled almost every weekend to his properties in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia, while his adult children have also been in one place, and have been traveling for both pleasure and vacation. inside and outside the United States.

"The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required according to law," said Alles. "I can't change that. I have no flexibility.”

Another element that increased costs is the number of people who should be protected. Under Barack Obama's presidency, this service was only given to 31 people, while Trump's was to 42.

That institution's financial crisis is so serious that Alles is asking lawmakers to raise the combined salary and overtime limit for agents, from $ 160,000 to $ 187,000 annually. However, he clarified that even if that request is approved, his organization will have no resources to compensate 130 veteran officers for the hundreds of overtime hours they have already accumulated combined.