N.Y. Lawmakers Blast Anti-Terror Funding Cuts
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Sounding a familiar refrain, New York area lawmakers bashed the Bush administration over the weekend for proposing very sharp reductions in anti-terror funding for New York City, New York state and other states.

A bewildered U.S. Senator Charles Schumer stated, "You scratch your head and wonder, is the White House on the same planet as the rest of us? To say no port security, no transit security, when we know that our ports and our transit are targets for terrorists makes no sense if you want to protect America."

Congressmember Joseph Crowley declared the proposed cuts in funding used to protect the city against another attack is an outrage.

Crowley, who co-created the 2003 federal Homeland Security grant program which based grants on assessed risk, went on: "The Bush administration's decision to withhold the funding we use to bolster security at our city's ports and transit hubs is a failure of leadership." He vowed to work with other New York lawmakers to overturn the administration's actions.

Schumer (D- New York) said that the Department of Homeland Security had requested $3.2 billion to help states and cities to continue programs to protect against terrorist attacks during Fiscal Year 2009.

But the White House, he stated, said it would ask Congress for less than half that figure.

Included in the cuts were reductions in fire- fighter and police department allocations, he said. The cuts are aimed at high-threat areas like New York City and deprive them of anti-terrorism funding.

According to one report obtained by the Associated Press, the Bush administration is making the reductions because it is not convinced that previous grants had been well spent and that the highest-risk cities have already provided for their emergency needs to boost security.

The report said grant money for states and cities would be cut from $3.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2009. Local and state governments would be expected to provide a larger share of the funding.

It was reported in Newsday on Monday that White House Office of Management and Budget officials said that the administration's anti-terror budget has not been finalized yet.

A White House spokesman issued a statement: "Protecting the homeland continues to remain a top priority to the administration and although no final budget decisions have been made, we are confident future funding levels will appropriately reflect our dedication to homeland security."

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a letter to the president that the reported cuts "undermine our efforts to do our utmost to improve our level of preparedness."

A spokesman for Governor Eliot Spitzer said the president's reported proposal takes the wrong approach and he must act instead to provide the resources that are necessary.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said through a spokesman, "It's stunning that the federal government would consider cutting New York City's homeland security funds from the already inadequate level that currently exists."