Photo: AP
Over 1,000 agents for the United States Secret Service have already hit the salary and overtime caps allocated for the entire year, USA Today reports.
According to the paper, this is largely due to Donald Trump’s decision to split time between multiple residences and vacation frequently, with each of those trips costing a small fortune. The Trump administration has also placed 42 people under Secret Service protection—18 of whom are family members. From USA Today:
The compensation crunch is so serious that [Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles] has begun discussions with key lawmakers to raise the combined salary and overtime cap for agents, from $160,000 per year to $187,000 for at least the duration of Trump’s first term.
But even if such a proposal was approved, about 130 veteran agents would not be fully compensated for hundreds of hours already amassed, according to the agency.
Add that to the list of indignities suffered by the agency under Trump, alongside their recent removal from New York’s Trump Tower to a trailer outside, after the Trump Organization failed to agree on a workable leasing price.
Monitoring threats made against Trump on Twitter already represents an impossible task, let alone securing multiple properties—especially when Mar-a-Lago is laughably easy to breach and Trump often undermines attempts to keep him safe and secure by acting against best practices. The agency is struggling with retention issues, and Director Alles describes the current workforce at as “tapped out.” We can imagine why.
[USA Today]