The Secret Service requested that the water level of the Ohio River be raised last weekend to ensure Vice President JD Vance had a safe kayaking trip on a family holiday, coinciding with his 41st birthday.
The Secret Service said it coordinated with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure motorized boats and emergency personnel could operate safely if agents needed to reach the vice president. The Vance family took the trip to the Little Miami River last Friday, a tributary near their Cincinnati home.
The incident, reported by the Guardian on Wednesday, sparked outrage from critics who argue the Trump administration shouldn’t waste taxpayer money while it cuts federal funding elsewhere.
“It’s outrageous for the Army corps of engineers to spend taxpayer money to increase water flow in a river so [Vance] can go canoeing when budget cuts to the National Park Service have severely impacted family vacations for everyone else,” Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, posted on social media.
The Army Corps said in a statement that the increased water flow was only temporary.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District received a request to temporarily increase outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of U.S. Secret Service personnel,” spokesman Eugene Pawlik said. “It was determined that the operations would not adversely affect downstream or upstream water levels.”
“Downstream stakeholders were notified in advance of the slight outflow increase, which occurred August 1, 2025,” he added. Vance’s birthday was the day after.
One Democratic lawmaker suggested the Army Corps should respond to congressional requests for information related to the Secret Service’s request.
“Outrageous! Must be why he wasn’t available to meet about his Big Bonanza for Billionaires Bill, which will devastate Ohio manufacturing jobs and our rural hospitals,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) wrote on X. “The Army Corps of Engineers should share records with relevant committees of jurisdiction in Congress.”
Vance was apparently unaware that the water level had been raised to accommodate his kayaking excursion, according to his office.
“The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend,” a Vance spokesperson told multiple news outlets.
Then-Vice President Al Gore experienced the same thing in 1999, when his security detail asked New Hampshire officials to release 4 billion gallons of water into the Connecticut River. Its water level was low at the time because of a drought. The request came amid Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign. Gore’s spokespeople said he did not ask the water to be released.
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“They won’t release the water for the fish when we ask them to,” John Kassel, then-director of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, said at the time, “but somehow they find themselves able to release it for a politician.”
Gore posed for photos during his canoe trip in the river, drawing backlash due to his environmental activism. Secret Service agents were concerned his canoe could have gotten stuck in shallow water.
