Tornado Alley (PROG)

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THE SECRET SERVICE HAS GONE BROKE PROTECTING TRUMP
http://nypost.com/2017/08/21/the-secret-service-has-gone-broke-protecting-trump/

The Secret Service, already stretched thin trying to provide security for President Trump’s large family, has now found itself unable to pay hundreds of agents on the commander-in-chief’s protective detail, according to a report Monday.

Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles said more than 1,000 agents have already reached the federally mandated salary caps and overtime allowances for the entire year, USA Today reported.

“The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law,” Alles ?told the newspaper?. “I can’t change that. I have no flexibility.”

?He said 42 people under Trump require protection, including 18 members of his family. Only 31 people required security teams during the Obama administration.

In the first seven months of the Trump administration, agents assigned to the president traveled with him nearly every weekend to one of his properties in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia.

They also accompanied Trump’s family members who have taken business trips and vacations in the US and abroad, Alles said.

The compensation has become such a critical concern that Alles said he has begun discussions with lawmakers about raising the salary and overtime cap for agents to $187,000 from $160,000 — at least for Trump’s first term.

Even with that bump, Alles said about 130 veteran agents would not be fully compensated for hundreds of hours they’ve already logged, the newspaper reported.

Since the January inauguration, Trump has traveled to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, seven times, to his golf resort in Bedminster, NJ, five times and to Trump Tower once, the report said.

The General Accounting Office said manpower and equipment costs to protect the president during his jaunts to Mar-a-Lago cost about $3 million each trip, the newspaper said.

The Secret Service has spent nearly $60,000 on golf cart rentals this year as its protects Trump on his golf courses in Florida and New Jersey.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has talked with Alles about the pay problem and has pledged to find a permanent solution, his spokeswoman, Jennifer Werner, told USA Today.

“We cannot expect the Secret Service to be able to recruit and keep the best of the best if they are not being paid for these increases (in overtime hours)?,?”? Werner told the news outlet.?

?Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chair of the panel, is “working with other committees of jurisdiction to explore ways? in which we can best support” the Secret Service, said the South Carolina Republican’s spokeswoman, Amanda Gonzalez.

Alles said the agency is involved in a campaign to hire more agents that he believes will eventually reduce the workload. He said the goal is to go from the current 6,800 agents and uniformed officers to 9,500 by 2025.

“We’re making progress,” he said.
-NY POST, August 21, 2017