About 1,000 Secret Service Agents Get No Pay Due To Trump’s Vacations: Has 11 More Folks Protected Than Obama
President Donald Trump’s frequent golf trips and vacations are now having an effect upon the wallets and bank accounts of the Secret Service agents who are charged with protecting President Trump and his large family. According to USA TODAY, more than 1,000 Secret Service agents have already reached the limit of their salary and overtime pay that should have lasted the entire 2017 year. However, President Trump’s huge family, frequent travel and required Secret Service protection to various Trump properties up and down the east coast has caused a large workload to be placed upon the agency, according to Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles.
Although President Trump promised his followers during rallies on the campaign trail that he’d be too busy working to ever take a vacation like former President Barack Obama, those who track Trump via social media geo-tagging locations have begun to keep count of the many times Trump has visited his own golf clubs, with Secret Service agents in tow. According to USA TODAY, Trump has spent nearly every weekend since being elected president at his own Trump properties in Florida, New Jersey, and Virginia. The adult Trump Family members also travel around the world for work and vacation.
President Trump has 42 people under Secret Service protection, which includes 18 members of the Trump Family. In comparison, former President Obama had 31 people under Secret Service protection, and did not have a bunch of Obama properties that he traveled to nearly every weekend. As a result of Trump’s strain on the Secret Service, there have been Secret Service agents leaving their jobs, and without more funding, Secret Service agents won’t get paid for the work they’ve already done for Trump.
Secret Service agents are having their battles fought for them, at least financially, with hopes that their $160,000 per year salary can be raised to $187,000 during Trump’s first presidential term. Even in the unlikely event that the measure is approved, it means that veteran Secret Service agents won’t be paid for hours of work due them. The demands for the Secret Service will continue to grow higher under Trump’s administration, according to Jennifer Werner, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings’ spokesperson. With Secret Service agents risking their lives to protect President Trump and his family, the fear is that more Secret Service agents will continue to leave their jobs due to not getting paid.
[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
