'I would think I should pay for my own protection,' Paul said. Ron Paul: Secret Service is welfare

Ron Paul said Tuesday he doesn’t want any Secret Service protection because it’s “a form a welfare.”

“It’s a form of welfare,” the presidential candidate told comedian Jay Leno Tuesday. “You know, you’re having the taxpayers pay to take care of somebody and I’m an ordinary citizen and I would think I should pay for my own protection and it costs, I think, more than $50,000 a day to protect those individuals. It’s a lot of money.”


But while he might be opposed to having some extra protection, that doesn’t mean Paul doesn’t have a Secret Service code name picked out for himself.

“Bulldog,” the Texas congressman promptly answered when Leno asked what top-secret moniker he would want.

“I go after the Fed and all that big spending,” a smiling Paul explained, doing his best to look tough by waving a clenched fist.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have chosen the code names “Javelin” and “Petrus” for themselves, respectively, according to a report this week.

Romney began receiving Secret Service protection in the beginning of February; Santorum a few weeks later ; and Newt Gingrich at the beginning of this month.

The Secret Service is authorized by law to protect “major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election.”

The determination of whether someone is a major candidate and when the protection should be offered is made by the Secretary of Homeland Security with the help of an advisory committee.

In fiscal 2012, the Secret Service was approved to spend $113 million for protecting presidential candidates, according to Brian Leary, a spokesman for the agency. The figure approved for fiscal 2008 was $112 million; $74 million for fiscal 2004 and $54 million for fiscal 2000.