Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano fired back at accusations that the White House was shortchanging NYC area counter-terrorism funding, telling Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) in a letter that the NY Times happened to obtain, "We are concerned. that more than $275 million in federal funding for New York City’s port and transit security since 2006 has not yet been drawn down."

She added, "In fact, New York has yet to draw down on any of the transit funding it received last year." King, though, claims:

It is a desperate letter based on a phony argument. If Janet Napolitano and the Obama Administration really believe that New York has been sitting on $275 million for four years, why were they just yesterday bragging about all of the extra stimulus money they gave to New York last year for homeland security? The fact is that almost all of the money that has not been spent is being held up by the DHS bureaucracy. For instance, $36 million to harden the PATH tunnel has been delayed since at least 2008 by FEMA’s environmental planning and historic preservation review because the tunnel is more than 50 years old. This letter is a cheap political attempt by the Obama administration to cover up and hide the fact that it has shortchanged New York. New York was unsuccessfully attacked at Times Square on May 1; now it is also being unsuccessfully attacked by the Obama Administration with this cheap letter.

Senator Schumer has also asked for NYC's share of anti-terror funding to be increased, "The bottom line is, New York City continues to be the number one target for terrorism in the United States and federal anti-terror funding needs to reflect that reality."

The Caucus also reports that Mayor Bloomberg's office weighed in, “While the funds the Department of Homeland Security are referring to were not earmarked for City agencies, there are tens of millions of dollars for the NYPD and FDNY waiting for approval by FEMA. We look forward to working with DHS to speed up the FEMA approvals necessary to release the money we need for important security projects." FEMA!