DHS chief vows to 'fix' Secret Service pay system

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson vowed Friday to "fix'' a federal pay system that caps overtime for U.S. Secret Service agents, including for hundreds who already have maxed out annual allowances during the busiest year in the service's history.

Earlier this week, USA TODAY reported that at least 1,000 agents, about a third of the agent workforce, already had reached combined overtime and salary limits — $160,300 — this year, according to agency records.

Some of the most veteran agents exhausted overtime allowances as early as June, leaving them ineligible for such pay during the national political conventions, which the Secret Service secures, nor for the frenetic general election during which agents have provided round-the-clock protection for the candidates, their families, as well as the current occupants of the White House and other top government officials.

Hundreds of Secret Service agents maxed out on overtime

"We must and we will fix this,'' said Johnson, who oversees Secret Service operations. He said that Congress was taking steps to address the matter by including provisions to raise agency pay caps, including during the current election year.

"Throughout this busy election year the Secret Service has been working non-stop to protect the presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families, coordinated security for the two conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia and the (United Nations) General Assembly, while continuing in their normal protection and law enforcement assignments,'' Johnson said. "They have done so with skill, dedication and professionalism, and without complaint.  They deserve our full support.''

The crushing workload and compensation caps have raised fresh concerns among federal lawmakers as the agency seeks to move beyond the shadow of a series of past security breaches and agent misconduct.

“Agents are tapped out,’’ said Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has closely examined the service's operations during the past two years.

“There has been so much activity related to the presidential campaign, they (agents) are now working and not getting paid for it. Congress cannot just stand on the sidelines and complain; we have to step in and do something.’’

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