ALBANY – The Trump administration is reinstating $187 million in counterterrorism funding grants to New York following outcry from the NYPD and a direct appeal from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesperson confirmed that the White House was reversing the cuts to funds supporting bomb squads, patrols around sensitive targets like houses of worship, intelligence analysts and tech like radiation detectors to monitor for explosives.
A judge had temporarily blocked FEMA, which administers the grant program, from disbursing the cash earlier this week, after being sued by New York and 11 over Democratic-leaning states that saw reductions that they argued were illegally politically motivated.
“We are grateful for the partnership of the state of New York, and today are announcing full funding of HSGP grants to effectively counter and combat security threats within the Empire State,” a FEMA spokesperson said, confirming the reversal, first reported by The New York Times.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to providing critical HSGP resources where they are needed most. FEMA works closely with our state and local partners to understand their needs and deliver grant funding directly into the hands of those who will utilize those funds most effectively,” the statement said.
Hochul and President Trump spoke at length Sunday evening, when the Empire State was first informed of the scale of the cuts, and he promised the governor that he would look into the matter, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
The cuts would have been devastating to the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts, and left New Yorkers vulnerable to attacks, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch had warned.
“To be blunt, this is the difference between a city that prevents the next attack and a city left exposed to it. Counterterrorism funding cannot be a political issue. It cannot rise and fall based on partisan wins,” Tisch said earlier this week.
Tisch noted that New York City has thwarted over 70 terrorist plots since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
It’s unclear if the reversal also applies to a roughly $34 million reduction in counterterrorism grant funding provided to the MTA, that a judge also put on hold this week.
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