The House is poised to vote on a bill this week that would give presidential candidates the same protections from the Secret Service that are offered to sitting presidents.
The proposal was initially proposed in mid-June, shortly after the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, which would have given him enhanced protections that President Joe Biden, then the Democratic candidate, has as the incumbent. But after the second assassination attempt against the former president over the weekend, House Republicans are looking to fast-track a bill that would offer Trump more protections as soon as possible.
“This is not a partisan issue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters on Tuesday. “We have a nominee for president that’s probably the most threatened political figure in history.”
The bill will be brought to the floor for a vote on Friday, according to Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and would also apply those protections to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the Democratic nominee.
Although the bill would require the Secret Service to provide increased protections, it doesn’t mention allocating more funds toward the agency to achieve this. Instead, House GOP leaders have argued the agency’s recent shortcomings are not related to money but rather a result of the Secret Service “trying to carry out a woke agenda, focusing on the wrong things, and forgetting their main mission,” Scalise said.
“If you look at their budget, since 2017, we have increased their budget over their own request every single year,” Scalise told reporters on Tuesday. “So clearly, they got more money. It’s about allocation.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
The request for increased protection comes in direct response to the second assassination attempt on Sunday, after which Johnson said he called the White House on Tuesday to “demand … “President Biden supply for President Trump, the same degree of protection that a sitting president has.”
“He’s a former president. I believe he’s going to be the next president, and right now, he’s a candidate under the greatest threat of any candidate,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “I hope the White House will see the wisdom in that, and I hope that they’ll do everything they can.”
The proposal also comes as Republicans have largely blamed Democrats for the attempts on Trump’s life, arguing the party’s rhetoric against the former president has incited violence ahead of the November election.
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“I want to point out Democrats violent statements have fueled this,” said House GOP Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY). “You should call the Democrats out in the media for fueling this violence against President Trump.”
Several top Democrats, including both Biden and Harris, have condemned the attacks on Trump as well as political violence in general. Biden has even gone so far as to say he would ensure the Secret Service has “every resource” to protect Trump on the campaign trail.