US Secret Service Spends Year's Overtime Pay on 'Large' Trump Family - Director

The US Secret Service has already spent the full amount of its overtime pay for 1,000 agents tasked with protecting President Donald Trump’s family due in part to their size and the frequency of their travel, Director Randolph Alles said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Alles said 1,000 Secret Service agents have already hit the legal salary and overtime pay caps that were supposed to last the entire year.

"The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law," Alles said in an interview with the USA TODAY newspaper. "I can't change that. I have no flexibility."

Trump and his children, some of whom have positions in the White House, have taken numerous trips to Florida, New Jersey and Virginia where the president owns property, as well as to areas abroad.

Forty-two people, including 18 members of Trump’s family, have Secret Service protection, Alles said. Thirty-one people were protected during previous president Barack Obama’s administration.

Alles said he has already begun discussions to raise salary caps. The payments would not compensate about 130 agents who have already worked overtime hours for Trump’s family.

However, in a later statement he said that the US Secret Service has adequate funding to pay its agents for overtime work during the rest of the year.

"The Secret Service has the funding it needs to meet all current mission requirements for the remainder of the fiscal year and compensate employees for overtime within statutory pay caps," the statement said.

Alles said the funding issues could be attributed solely to the needs of Trump’s family, "but rather has been an ongoing issue for nearly a decade due to an overall increase in operational tempo."

Alles also said approximately 1,100 employees will work overtime in excess of the US federal pay gaps addressed in the report.