Schumer calls for $615 million anti-terror funds for urban areas in wake of New Orleans attack

Theresa Braine, New York Daily News on Jan 5, 2025

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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday called for $615 million to be included in the federal budget to shore up urban centers against terrorism in the wake of an attack in New Orleans and an explosion in Las Vegas — and the potential for copycats.

With the current agreement to keep the government from shutting down lasting only through March 14, Schumer urged the incoming Trump administration to ensure the federal Urban Area Security Initiative, a rolling terrorism-preparation fund administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would not fall prey to political games.

The FBI on Friday warned law enforcement officials across the country to have an eye out for potential copycat attacks like the one in New Orleans, where an apparent lone wolf became self-radicalized and carried out an attack that killed 14 people celebrating New Year’s on the city’s famed Bourbon St. An apparent suicide in Las Vegas in which an active duty soldier blew himself up in a Tesla Cybertruck added to the tension.

“On the heels of the attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and the warnings from the FBI, there is one thing the federal government must not and cannot dither on, and that is the anti-terror dollars that protect New York City, Long Island and the metro area,” Schumer said in a statement.

“Today, I am announcing that I will request the federal UASI program administered by FEMA is funded with at least $615 million in the upcoming budget,” he said. “This amount will help New York City and the region tap federal dollars that help prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism. Any effort to cut this anti-terror program, especially right now, cannot stand.”

While there has been no official move to cut such funds, they fall under the federal budget umbrella.

The funds also help ensure the safety of events like the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump, Schumer noted, calling them a “firewall during a time of potential copycat attacks like the FBI is warning about” no matter where they’re used.

“You’ll need it to be able to continue in March for places like New York City to pull from that funding allotment to keep in preparedness and responsiveness and all that training that they do,” Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro told the Daily News.

Although there are “no specific active threats” to New York City, Roefaro noted “on any given day [the city] is always at the top of a threat list.”

There will be just eight weeks between Trump’s inauguration day and the end of the late-December agreement that kept the government operating through the holidays through mid-March. Some of Trump’s stated plans involve cuts to federal programs.