Rep. Ritchie Torres Leads 4 NY Dems in Call on House Approps Leadership:Trump’s Budget Poses Existential Threat to NYC’s Homeland Security

Today, Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) led his colleagues Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), and Gregory Meeks (NY-05) in a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (OK-04) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03). The letter reads as follows (PDF attached here):

“We are writing to express the gravest concerns about the existential threat that the Trump Administration’s proposed budget poses to the homeland security of New York City.

“Here is the bottom line: the Trump budget, if enacted, would leave America’s largest city woefully unprepared to prevent and respond to a second 9/11.

“The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), State Homeland Security Grant Program, Transit Security Grant, and Port Security Grant together provide approximately $190 million annually to New York City—funds that form the backbone of our city’s counterterrorism and emergency preparedness infrastructure. Draconian cuts to the homeland security grants would all but dismantle the FDNY’s capacity for emergency management and would reduce the NYPD’s post 9/11 counterterrorism apparatus to a shell of its former self.

“The Trump budget is an act of national self-sabotage. Since 9/11, New York City has been the target of 67 known terrorist plots. Alarmingly, two-thirds of those plots have emerged within the last decade. In just the first half of 2025, we have seen seven terrorist plots—roughly one per month. 24 years following 9/11 terror attacks, the threat of terrorism remains as real as it has ever been.

“Even more destructive than the $45 million cut to the homeland security grants is the imposition of terms and conditions that could serve as a pretext to defund them entirely. The new terms and conditions are so open-ended and over-broad as to render compliance all but impossible. Even jurisdictions that might wish to comply could find themselves in legal limbo, with no clear standards of definitions to guide them. This is not homeland security policy. It is political blackmail.

“At a time when terrorism, cyberattacks, and extreme weather events are converging to create an increasingly complex threat environment, the Trump budget would gut the very systems we depend on to detect, deter, and respond to those threats effectively—not just in New York but nationwide. The FDNY and NYPD do not operate in isolation; their teams routinely provide reinforcements and technical assistance to jurisdictions across the United States. The homeland security grants for NYC enables a national network of mutual aid between and among states.

“We urge the Appropriations Committee to reject a Trump budget that puts America’s homeland security not first but last—to the detriment of all Americans.”