President George W. Bush to be the First President to Face Limit on Secret Service Protection

Well, another first for outgoing President George W. Bush. He will be the first ex-president to face limits on Secret Service protection. His “after-life” is shaping up to be very interesting. He’ll be the first to receive 10 years of protection only. Gone is the lifetime protection perk. Congress changed the law in the 1990s so that any president elected after Jan. 1, 1997, and his or her spouse will receive the federal protection for only 10 years.

President George W. Bush’s will have some perks, however. A Dallas office, staffers, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers’ expense. The Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home — not paid for by taxpayers — on Jan. 20, and there Bush will be close to his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University, which will be very interesting and probably scandalous.

Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life.

Filed under: Lifetime Secret Service Protection, President George W. Bush, Presidential library, Secret Service Protection limits