Fifty-seven million dollars will be earmarked for the US Secret Service, which requested a larger budget. Of that, $34 million will go to Trump's security detail through the remainder of the fiscal year and $23 million will go to providing protection to the 58-story Trump Tower in New York City. The Secret Service intends to secure that property with equipment and personnel, including taking the costly measure of renting space in the building itself.
The other $60 million will go to reimbursing "extraordinary law enforcement personnel costs" for places like New York City and Palm Beach County (the location of Mar-a-Lago, which Trump refers to as his "Southern White House").
The president of the United States carries an enormous security detail with him wherever he goes, and Trump is no different. "Although the federal government does not otherwise reimburse costs for state or local law-enforcement for activities in support of the Secret Service's protection mission, these funds are being provided in recognition of the extraordinary costs borne by a small number of jurisdictions in which a residence of the president is located," reads the legislation.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Congress for the measure. "We are getting what we are owed," de Blasio said."That's good news for our city and the hard working police officers faced with this unprecedented security challenge."
It costs NYC around $140,000 a day to protect Trump's wife Melania and son Barron, who currently live in Trump Tower, and as much as $310,000 when the president himself comes home to roost. "It is ridiculous to expect local law enforcement… to bear the extraordinary and ongoing costs of protecting the President of the United States," said Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in a statement.
Palm Beach County officials concur, as Trump's visits to Mar-a-Lago cost them more than $60,000 a day. "We're very honored to have the president here, but at the same time, his travel here is such high frequency he's not visiting Palm Beach County — he's governing from it," County Commissioner Dave Kerner told Money magazine. "Whatever our priorities are, the taxpayers didn't pay this money to us to protect the president."
Accustomed to traveling for business and pleasure, Trump's children have done their fair share of globetrotting as well — and as the president's family, they, too, are entitled to a federal security detail.
