House unanimously passes bill boosting Secret Service protection for presidential candidates
The House unanimously passed a bill Friday that would bolster U.S. Secret Service protections for major presidential candidates in the aftermath of a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
The bill, titled the “Enhanced Presidential Security Act,” passed the House in a 405-0 vote after two assassination attempts on Trump took place between in July and September. The bill would require the Secret Service director to equally apply standards for protections for presidents, vice presidents, as well as major presidential and vice presidential candidates.
“It’s unacceptable that now we’re at two assassination attempts on President Trump,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a press release. “The Secret Service has to provide the same level of protection for presidential candidates as for presidents so that something like this doesn’t happen a third time. The future of our country is at stake.”
“Political violence has no place in our country, but when it does rear its ugly head, we must ensure we’ve done everything possible to prevent it from being successful,” Scalise continued.
On July 13, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks took aim and fired multiple shots at the former president from a rooftop positioned just 130 yards away from a rally stage in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Leading up to the rally, Crooks was reportedly spotted by attendees, flagged by Secret Service, and even identified by a local counter sniper over an hour before Trump stepped on stage.
Within two months of the Butler shooting, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh attempted to assassinate Trump while the former President was golfing at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh was arrested by authorities after his “AK-47 style rifle with a scope” was spotted in the bushes on the course by a Secret Service agent.
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