You know, it has been almost six months since election day, and I always tell the story that in the days leading up to election day, even though so many of the polls and so many of the pundits had projected a certain outcome, there was one totally objective institution that was ready either way – it was the NYPD. And in the planning meetings for election night, the NYPD leadership were going over different scenarios. And they said, if Secretary Clinton wins, we’re going to do this, and, if Mr. Trump wins, we’re going to do that. And I think a lot of people in the room thought, well, you know, you may only need one of those options. But, in fact, the NYPD was ready, and, lo and behold, at the end of election night, November 8th, the security at Trump Tower became a major priority for the NYPD.
And I would say this honestly, having been in the planning process, and everything since – it was a mission unlike any other the NYPD had ever taken on to have the President-elect of the United States in a building in the middle of Midtown Manhattan – a building that was directly exposed to the streets around it. There’s literally not been a precedent in the history of this city or the history of this nation, and I want to credit the men and women of the NYPD for the way they seamlessly went into action to protect Trump Tower and everyone in it, and then, working in the days after with the Secret Service, developed more extensive plans and have carried them out ever since, while simultaneously keeping things moving in Midtown. We all know that was tough in the beginning, but, more and more, the NYPD managed to find a way to balance security with the flow of traffic and do something remarkable for this city and for this nation. The problem was, in that entire time, we didn’t know if the NYPD would ever be reimburse for this extensive effort. And as the days went by and the millions and millions of dollars added up, it was quite clear this would have a ramifications for everything else we were doing – that NYPD was taking officers and resources away from other vital missions, but they had to because it was one of the highest priorities in the city.
We went an attempted to get support from the federal government the reimburse us. And the first time, it was tough, but we knew there would be another bite at the apple with the decision on the continuing resolution. And we’re here today to celebrate the extraordinary work of my colleagues around me, and you’ll hear from them in a just a moment, but I want to really thank them on behalf of 8.5 million New Yorkers because they had to right this wrong. They had to get the Congress to agree to do something it previously wasn’t willing to do, and to recognize the reality that no city in the history of this country ever had to take on a burden like this, and if it wasn’t reimbursed, it would undermine the other public safety efforts of the NYPD – that’s what was at stake. We all know $24 million from election day to inauguration – between $100,000 and $150,000 a day ever since. We’re talking about ultimately tens of millions of dollars that was on the line.
Now, I went through this process and I talked to all of our members of Congress, and I also talked to some Republican members of Congress along the way, and I saw the impact that my colleagues were having, because, you know, there’s not always an atmosphere of generosity towards New York City in the U.S. Congress. Even though this city does so much for our nation – it’s one of the great economic hubs of the nation and we provide so much in revenue to the federal government. Somehow, there’s not always a spirit of generosity back. My colleagues here had to go and fight a tough battle to convince people to do unto others as they would want onto them – to think if it were their city, their town. How would they want the federal government to treat them? And they really wore down the opposition and they opened up minds, and I heard from Republican members of Congress that they increasingly understood there was a fairness argument here and they have been swayed by the arguments of Congresswoman Lowey, and Congresswoman Maloney, and Congressman Nadler, and our other colleagues who couldn’t be here today but deserve tremendous credit as well – Senator Schumer, Congressman Donovan, Congresswoman Meng, among others, who worked so hard. And I always appreciate when a Republican speaks to his fellow Republicans, and Dan Donovan went and did that. He went and spread the message to his fellow Republicans – this was a matter of fairness and if the shoe was on the other foot they’d want that federal helps.
So, look, this delegation fought the battle and they won the battle, and I want to thank each and every one of them.
We’re waiting for the final process that will unfold in the weeks ahead, but we know the basic numbers, and we know that we will be substantially [inaudible] whole for that time up to inauguration day. And we know that the stage has been set to get substantial reimbursement for the days after. And we also know we’ll have to go back over time and make sure that it stays that way. But to all of our colleagues – and I mentioned, obviously, Senator Schumer – I want to mention Senator Gillibrand, as well, who was front and center on this. I want to mention the work of Congressman Serrano, who I spoke to the other day, who did great work on this. Everyone I’ve mentioned deserves out thanks and I know everyone I mentioned will continue this work.
And I’ll finish by saying, look, I had rarely had an opportunity to see inside the process like I did this time. And I talked to the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in the company of Congresswoman Lowey. We went to see Congressman Frelinghuysen together. Having her testify directly one of the people with the greatest influence – how personally important this was to her made a huge difference here. Seeing these folks work the internal process, even against the odds, it was very, very impressive because it could have easily gone a different way. I want to give them tremendous credit because they brought home a victory for New York City.
