WASHINGTON – Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer are warning congressional budget writers to keep their hands off the money sent to New York City after the 9/11 attacks.
In order to fund a new spending bill, the chairmen of the House and Senate appropriations committees are looking to take away unspent money that had been approved by Congress over the past two years. That could include some of the $20 billion given to New York after 9/11.
“We write to express our strongest opposition to such an effort. These federal dollars are critical not only to New York’s ongoing recovery from the attacks, but to our nation’s economic recovery,” the two Democratic senators wrote in a letter to the two chairmen.
But an influential New York Republican said he’s been assured by House Appropriations chairman Jim Young (R-Fla.) that New York’s money is not in jeopardy.
“I just spoke to the chairman about it. I said it would be a problem if we were to target New York funds. He said, ‘No, we don’t have any intention of using those funds.’ “