"GUNZ R ME" - Obama signs bill, gets Secret Service protection for life.(CNN).With the stroke of a pen Thursday, President Barack Obama gave himself and his wife Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives.
The new law, which passed the House and Senate in December, designates that all former U.S. presidents who served after January 1, 1997, along with their spouses, receive protection from the Secret Service for their entire lifetimes – meaning former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura are also covered. The law also stipulates that children of presidents receive protection until the age of 16.
Lifetime government-provided security for former presidents was the law of the land until 1997, when Congress passed legislation limiting Secret Service protection to ten years after leaving office.
*Before 1958, the U.S. federal government provided no pension or other retirement benefits to former United States presidents. Andrew Carnegie offered to endow a US$25,000 annual pension for former Chief Executives in 1912, but congressmen questioned the propriety of such a private pension. Legislation introduced that year to establish a presidential pension failed. In 1955 former President Harry S. Truman's limited financial resources for an office staff prompted legislation to provide benefits to former presidents.
When the Former Presidents Act took effect, there were two living former presidents: Herbert Hoover and Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to fall under the act upon leaving office.
Former presidents were entitled from 1965 to 1996 to lifetime Secret Service protection, for themselves and spouses and children under 16. A 1994 statute, (Pub.L. 103-329), limited post-presidential protection to ten years for presidents inaugurated after January 1, 1997. Under this statute, Bill Clinton is entitled to lifetime protection; George W. Bush, Barack Obama and all subsequent presidents are entitled to ten years' protection.
Some have called on Congress to reconsider because the world has become more dangerous for former office-holders. Members of Congress have discussed restoring lifetime protection in view of increases in terrorism and other threats.[citation needed].
Richard Nixon relinquished his Secret Service protection in 1985, the first (and so far only) president to do so.
George W. Bush – along with Obama will continue to receive Secret Service details for the rest of their lives.Read the full story here.
*Wikipedia: Former Presidents Act.
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