More than 30 cities around the country – including several in New York and Connecticut – will lose their federal anti-terror funding after budget cuts left the Department of Homeland Security with less money to distribute through grants.
The department had provided funding to 64 cities, but that number will now drop to 31 deemed to be high-threat urban areas.
The New York City metro area, arguably home to the top terror targets in the world, will retain the same amount of funding it received last year – $151 million.
Long Island Rep. Peter King spoke to 1010 WINS on Thursday and expressed approval for New York getting “dollar for dollar exactly what it received last year.”
King said giving funding to cities he referred to as “not really terror targets” was “wasted money.”
The Republican lawmaker cited New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego among the cities where he believes “a real terror threat” exists.
Some of the cities that will have their funding axed include: Buffalo, which received $5.5 million last year, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Hartford and Bridgeport.
King said it was “almost impossible” for those cities to be attacked.
“They were on the list the because it was a way to send money to these cities, it was a – in effect – a political handout that was going on for too many years.”
While Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the agency for the move, Sen. Chuck Schumer and others criticized the upstate cuts and said they’d try to reverse them.
{1010 WINS/Matzav.com Newscenter}
