<p>New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is requesting that the Trump administration restore nearly $87 million in federal counterterrorism funding that she claims was improperly withheld from the state.</p>
<p>Hochul made this request on Tuesday alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a press conference, where she accused the administration of compromising public safety by reducing federal funding for New York law enforcement and emergency response agencies.</p>
<p>“Donald Trump is defunding the police, defunding the NYPD intelligence analysts who foil the attacks, defunding the brave members of FDNY who run into the fire while the rest of us are running out, defunding the National Guard, the units who protect the major transit hubs, defunding bomb squads, defunding police departments and sheriff’s offices from Long Island to Westchester to Buffalo,” Hochul stated.</p>
<p>“Here’s my message to the president: don’t undermine our public safety efforts,” she continued. “Don’t defund the police who thwart terror attacks. Don’t play political games with people’s lives. Release the $87 million you owe us.”</p>
<p>The dispute originates from September 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delayed the release of that year’s Homeland Security Grant Program funding.</p>
<p>After the 2025 funding opportunity was eventually released, New York’s initial allocation was reduced by approximately $87 million, according to Hochul’s administration. When DHS issued the final awards on September 27, 2025, the state faced an additional cut of $100 million, totaling a reduction of $187 million, or about 86% of the state’s previous allocation.</p>
<p>Hochul subsequently urged President Donald Trump to reverse the cuts. In October 2025, Trump stated on Truth Social that he had “reversed the cuts made to Homeland Security and Counterterrorism for New York City and State.”</p>
<p>However, Hochul’s administration claims that New York has only received $100 million of the funding that was restored following a federal court order, leaving nearly $87 million still outstanding.</p>
<p>The Homeland Security Grant Program was established by Congress after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and provides funding for state and local efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism. New York received approximately $220 million through the program in the previous fiscal year, with a significant portion allocated to law enforcement agencies in New York City and surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Mamdani also criticized the withholding of funds during the press conference. “New York City is the greatest city in the world,” he said. “And yet, because of what this city represents, we also know that it will always be a target. Our city has made enormous strides over the last 25 years, and yet we know that we live in a complex and fast-moving threat landscape.”</p>
<p>In July, DHS announced that states would need to adopt a series of election-security measures to receive federal homeland security grants, effectively linking some federal funding to election administration.</p>
<p>Hochul has challenged this policy in court, arguing that the federal government lacks the authority to impose election requirements on states through the grant process. “President Trump does not get to rewrite election law or suppress the right to vote with the stroke of a pen,” Hochul stated in a July announcement. “That’s why New York challenged this unlawful executive order from the very beginning.”</p>
<p>The Trump administration disputes Hochul’s characterization of the funding dispute. A FEMA spokesperson accused the governor of “manufacturing a funding crisis,” asserting that New York has over $300 million in unspent federal homeland security funding.</p>
<p>“Instead of falsely accusing President Trump of defunding law enforcement, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani should answer a much simpler question: Why is New York and NYC demanding even more taxpayer money when it has failed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars already provided to protect its communities?” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.</p>
<p>The administration also noted that in fiscal 2025, it restored New York’s Homeland Security Grant Program allocation to the $133 million amount originally listed in the funding opportunity after Hochul directly appealed to Trump.</p>
<p>For fiscal 2026, New York is expected to receive more than $200 million in Homeland Security Grant Program funding, according to FEMA. This increase is partly due to the costs associated with hosting FIFA World Cup matches earlier this year. FEMA anticipates awarding the 2026 funding later this month.</p>