Senate panel delays plans for review of Secret Service funding in wake of Trump attack

Source: CBS News

Updated on: July 31, 2024 / 4:56 PM EDT


Washington — A powerful Senate committee has delayed plans to meet and consider next year's funding for the U.S. Secret Service and other divisions of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, with spending legislation now facing new complications and potential revisions ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to ensure the agency remains funded.

CBS News has learned senators have raised questions about whether the agency needs additional funding — or whether it should be subjected to tighter scrutiny of how it spends its federal money. A planned markup of funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Secret Service, has been removed from the Thursday schedule of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A committee source told CBS News the legislation is already among the most politically fraught of Congress's annual spending bills, because it touches on the hot-button issues of immigration and border security. But the source said the ongoing review of the Secret Service's failures to protect Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13 contributed to calls to delay the markup of the bill.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and GOP Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, who serve as chair and vice chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, submitted a series of questions to the Secret Service on Wednesday asking if a shortage of funding contributed to the lapses that occurred at the Butler rally.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-funding-senate-trump-assassination-attempt/