Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday complained President Donald Trump has failed to satisfy an 11-month-old promise to revive thousands and thousands in federal funding to New York’s homeland safety operations.
Trump stated on Fact Social final 12 months he had reversed cuts that took New York’s federal counterterrorism funds from $287 million all the way down to $30 million, however Hochul stated Tuesday New York was nonetheless $87 million brief.
“Disgrace on you for withholding this cash, not delivering it to me proper now, 10 days earlier than we honor these lives that had been misplaced on 9/11,” Hochul stated throughout a information convention at her Midtown workplace. “Let me translate that in actual easy phrases: Donald Trump is defunding the police.”
The cash helps counterterrorism efforts together with cybersecurity operations, Ok-9 groups, bomb squads and the Nationwide Guard, in line with Terrence O’Leary, commissioner of the state Division of Homeland Safety and Emergency Providers.
“Terror is a global concern. It’s one thing the place the menace can originate wherever,” O’Leary stated. “Nevertheless, it’s crystal clear that responders are right here in New York.”
A spokesperson for FEMA stated New York has not spent all the federal cash already allotted to New York for homeland safety operations.
“Governor Hochul is manufacturing a funding disaster regardless of New York sitting on greater than $300 million in UNSPENT federal homeland safety funding,” the spokesperson stated.
O’Leary even pointed to main occasions held in New York this summer season, saying they had been capable of proceed safely.
“Our first responders did the work and made positive that everybody may take pleasure in it,” O’Leary stated. “The federal portion of that was funding. Their funding is vital for first responders right here in New York state.”
Mamdani, standing alongside Hochul, nonetheless claimed the remaining cash is desperately wanted for emergency preparedness.
“We’re speaking in regards to the cash wanted to totally fund 12 bomb squads throughout New York,” Mamdani stated. “We’re speaking in regards to the cash wanted to make sure that within the occasion of a catastrophic assault, the FDNY can talk internally and reply successfully.”
Mamdani additionally stated New Yorkers can be safer from dangerous radiation if protected with homeland safety funding.
“And we’re speaking about ensuring that ought to New Yorkers ever face a radiological menace, our first responders have the coaching, the tools and the capabilities they should reply,” he stated. “To place it merely, there isn’t a excuse for the federal authorities to go away the nation’s largest metropolis to shoulder this burden alone,” he stated.
The Trump administration reduce New York’s federal homeland safety and counterterrorism grant allocation by $187 million in September 2025.
A federal decide later ordered the Division of Homeland Safety to revise the grant awards, and New York recovered about $100 million, in line with Hochul’s workplace.
Trump stated in an Oct. 3, 2025 Fact Social publish that he had reversed the cuts.
“I’m happy to advise that I reversed the cuts made to Homeland Safety and Counterterrorism for New York Metropolis and State,” Trump posted.
Hochul stated she spoke with Trump when the cuts had been first introduced 11 months in the past however has not spoken with him since. As an alternative, she stated, her administration has been “backchanneling” by the Division of Homeland Safety.
At Tuesday’s information convention, practically a 12 months later with the twenty fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 assaults 10 days away, Hochul delivered a direct enchantment to Trump — by tv cameras.
“Right here’s my message to the president,” Hochul stated. “Don’t play political video games with folks’s lives. Launch the $87 million you owe us. As a result of should you don’t launch the counterterrorism funding, you’re betraying each household that misplaced somebody on 9/11.”
The Trump administration didn’t instantly reply to an inquiry from The Submit.
