Trump’s Frequent Travel And Lifestyle Is Blowing Off Secret Service’s Budget

Trump’s frequent travel and lifestyle is blowing off Secret Service’s budget as the agency asked for an additional $60 million for the year 2018. It’s a prime rule that the agency should adapt to the first family’s unique and extravagant lifestyle so they could offer the utmost protection the family needs. Although the documents didn’t show the exact costs breakdown as it is strictly confidential, it did; however, gave us a glimpse of how the approximate amount of money is going to be spent for.

Trump’s frequent travel and lifestyle could force citizens to pay higher taxes

According to a Washington Post Report released on Tuesday, the U.S. Secret Service is requesting for an additional $60 million for next year’s fiscal funding. It is said to be the most precise estimate for of the costs of the protection, travel, and lavish lifestyle of the Trump family.

About $27 million is subsided for the security measures of the president’s private residence in New York’s Trump Tower, while the remaining $33 million is to be earmarked for the travel costs incurred by “the president, vice president, and other visiting heads of the state.”

The documents reflected the costly lifestyle that is provided for the large and far-flung Trump family. The Secret Services are tasked to guard the Trump Tower where first lady Melania Trump and 11-year-old son Barron live as they have refused to live in the White House. An additional cost is covered by the president’s habit of traveling, spending most of his weekends at Mar-a-Lago — a luxurious private golf resort in Palm Beach, Florida. His adult sons and their expensive trips are also included in the proposed budget.

Earlier this year, his son Eric Trump spent $90,000 for his trip to Uruguay to promote the Trump Organization. He had the Secret Service agents accompanying him in the trip, reaching that said amount due to hotel bills. This sparked criticisms that Donald Trump’s business attention is intertwined with his government functions.

In the defense with the president’s travel hobby, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that “presidents always travel,” adding that “the President will continue to go and travel around the country and have meetings to solve the nation’s problems… wherever he goes, he carries the apparatus of the White House. ”

Author Jeffrey Robinson who wrote the book “Standing Next to History: An Agent’s Life Inside the Secret Service” said that planning for the protection of the Trump family and its assets are “a nightmare.” He said, “They have to secure Trump Tower because Melania is there. They protect the first family. They have to protect the grandchildren. This is going to be an expensive operation.”

The additional $60 million may or may not be granted

Following the upload of the documents requesting $60 million more for the funding of the Secret Services, an official from the Office of the Management and Budget commented that the agency is still continuing to furnish their budget before submitting it. The official claimed that the OMB will support its funding and the alleged $27 million request for Trump’s family expenses was “outright untrue.”

This budget request by the agency drew an awkward contrast with Trump’s plan to eliminate several antipoverty programs which the president released last week. Based on a government report, Donald Trump’s frequent travel to his weekend getaway at Mar-a-Lago costs taxpayers around $3million each trip. His trip last Friday marks the fifth post-inauguration trip and he’s showing no signs of limiting his weekend jaunts to the “Southern White House,” as he most fondly calls it.

Trump’s frequent travels and lifestyle is taking a toll on the Secret Services agency as the White House released a proposed budget that could affect many government programs in social and research as they anticipate deep cuts from the federal government. The Washington Post previously reported that funds from Trump’s weekend trips would greatly benefit the Interagency Council on Homelessness for a year—one of the government agency that is on the brink of eradication following Trump’s budget proposal.

[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]