Press Releases
BLOOMBERG SELLS OUT NEW YORK CITY WITH PRAISE OF BUSH ADMINISTRATION
Washington DC – Today, ten Members of New York City’s delegation in the House of Representatives expressed deep concerns about remarks made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his testimony before the 9/11 Commission. Bloomberg lauded the Bush Administration’s efforts in the war on terror, despite the fact that Bush policies have cost the City millions of homeland security dollars.
During his testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Mayor Michael Bloomberg denounced the fact that more and more cities are being made eligible to receive federal homeland security funding that is supposed to go only to those places that are at high risk of terror attack. Said Bloomberg: “This Commission must challenge Congress to follow the Bush Administration’s lead, and stop treating Homeland Security and bio-terror preparedness funding as political pork.” He also noted that he was “happy” with the “spirit of cooperation” the Bush Administration has established with the City.
The expansion of the number of cities eligible for high threat funding is the direct result of Bush Administration policies. Bush’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sole jurisdiction over the cities eligible for high threat funding, and it was DHS that expanded the list from 7 to 30 to 50. This expansion caused New York City’s share of high threat funding to drop from 24.8% to 6%.
The result: high threat funding is being spread thin over scores of towns, including the likes of Fresno and Louisville, that no one believes are at risk of suffering a terrorist attack. As Bloomberg’s own emergency management commissioner Joseph Bruno said in testimony before the City Council: “[w]e’ve got to have threat-based funding—we need it. It’s absurd to do it any other way.” Or, in the words of Police Commissioner Kelly: “We know what to do to make New York less vulnerable to attack. What we don’t have is adequate support from the Department of Homeland Security.”
“The Mayor’s remarks were troubling, unhelpful, and uninformed,” said Rep. Weiner. “We need the Mayor to be fighting tooth and nail to get every dollar out of Bush, not patting him on the back. Bloomberg should listen to his own emergency management commissioner.”
Rep. Weiner, joined by 9 other Members of Congress, expressed their concerns in a letter to Bloomberg. Joining Weiner on the letter were New York Reps. Charles Rangel, Joe Crowley, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Gregory Meeks, Jose Serrano, Edolphus Towns, Major Owens, and Nydia Velazquez.
Congressman Anthony D. Weiner
