Congress will only cover $7M of NYC’s $35M Trump security bill
Just two days after Mayor de Blasio formally requested $35 million in federal funding to cover security at Trump Tower for the 73 days from the November 8th election to inauguration day on January 20th, republicans in Congress decided to earmark a mere $7 million towards protecting the President Elect while he’s in the Big Apple. Of the pending decision, the Mayor said, “NYC taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for 80 percent of the national bill to protect Trump Tower. DC must step up to pay us back what we’re owed,” reports the Post.
The de Blasio administration says it costs nearly $500,000 a day to protect Trump, which includes securing Trump Tower (where he says he’ll spend weekends while in office and where Melania and Barron will continue to reside), supplying an armored vehicle to take Barron to school every day and having the secret service then sweep the building, providing 24/7 security for Trump’s adult children and grandchildren (all of whom live in NYC), and monitoring the Midtown skyscrapers with views of the Tower. The $7 million that will come from the feds is to cover NYPD overtime, and it’s part of the House budget bill to prevent a government shutdown this weekend.
Despite the proposal by congressional Republicans, six Democratic members of New York City’s congressional delegation have been very outspoken on their feelings that Donald Trump should either move out of Trump Tower once he’s sworn in, or foot the bill himself. On Tuesday at a Capitol Hill press conference, Brooklyn Rep. Nydia Velázquez said, “When a person is elected to the presidency of the United States you’re supposed to go to the White House. You should not keep two-full time residencies. It will compromise resources that are so much needed and it will compromise security and safety in the communities that we represent.”
[Via NYP]
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