Funding to NYC and DC Increased - Cuts to Midsize Cities

Homeland Security Increases Funding to D.C., N.Y.Move Will Cut Funding to Mid-Size Cities
By Spencer S. Hsu and Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post July 18, 2007; 2:58 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2007/07/18/AR2007071801507.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1184781799950.shtm
The Homeland Security Department today increased counterterrorism funding for Washington and New York City but warned that doling out more federal cash to the nation's largest urban areas would require the virtual elimination of aid to mid-size cities, such as Minneapolis-St. Paul and Tucson. In awarding $1.7 billion in state and local counterterrorism grants and $1 billion in grants to improve emergency communications for police and fire departments, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff again waded into the politically perilous waters of allocating security grants based on risk. Chertoff acknowledged that the funding decisions would renew controversy over whether security grants are effectively transformed into political pork by congressional interference. But his announcement appeared carefully crafted to tamp down criticism that erupted last year when DHS slashed aid by 40 percent to the two areas hit in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In Washington, funding for the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs climbed $15 million to $62 million, a figure that is still 25 percent less than the capital region received in 2005…