House set to vote on bill to increase Secret Service protection for presidential candidates

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The House is set to vote Friday morning on a bill that would give major presidential and vice presidential candidates the same level of Secret Service protection as the president following two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump in recent months.

The measure was introduced after the first attempt on Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania campaign rally by New York Reps. Mike Lawler (R) and Ritchie Torres (D).

The legislation requires support from two-thirds of the chamber for passage because it is being brought up under an expedited process.

This week, Speaker Mike Johnson said that the bipartisan task force created after the Butler shooting to investigate security failures will expand its scope to include the apparent attempt to assassinate Trump at his golf property in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

CR watch: With the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline approaching, House appropriators are eyeing a stopgap bill that would expire on Dec. 13 along with some additional funding for disaster aid, veterans health care and the Secret Service. (POLITICO’s Congress team has plenty more details on how lawmakers could get to that stopgap measure.) But as far as a finalized plan is concerned, things are still fluid.

“Next week we’ll need to act. It could be early next week, but I have no basis to say that other than maybe it’s more hope than anything. But I’m not booking a cruise,” appropriator Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said Thursday. “It’s all speculative right now.”

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