“New York City taxpayers should not be on the hook for 80 percent of the national bill to protect our President-elect and his family’s residence. We are counting on Congress to step up in the coming months to pay back what it owes our city. This is a national responsibility and the burden cannot fall alone on our city and police department."
Congressman Engel Statement On Funding For Presidential Security at Trump Tower
Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the incoming Dean of the New York City Congressional Delegation, issued the following statement today on funding for Presidential security at Trump Tower:
“Congress is currently debating legislation to fund the government through April. The City asked for $35 million to help cover the costs of securing the building through the inauguration, but the bill released by Congressional Republicans last night included only a fifth of that.
“I am insulted, and all New Yorkers should feel insulted, that the Republicans in Congress are offering only $7 million dollars to New York City for the cost of securing Trump Tower for the incoming first family. After our years-long struggle to secure funds for 9/11 first responders and Sandy recovery, New Yorkers are being asked once again to foot the bill for a federal responsibility.
“The President-elect and his family have every right to continue to live in their private residences – whether in Midtown, Bedminster, New Jersey, or at Mar-a-Lago in Florida – and to send their young son to school in a comfortable setting. I am confident New York’s Finest will do an excellent job protecting the incoming first family in full cooperation with the U.S. Secret Service, but NYPD outlays based on Secret Service requirements have run in excess of $1 million per day, to say nothing of lost economic activity and tax revenue as a result of traffic restrictions along 5th Avenue. Especially if Mr. Trump does split time between the White House and Trump Tower for his entire term, as he has said he plans to do, Republican leadership will have to address this eventually. Full funding for security at Trump Tower through the inauguration is the only reasonable place to start.”
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