NEW YORK (AP) – The mayor and other Democratic officials said on Wednesday that Congress was proposing to pitch in far too little for protecting Trump Tower: $7 million, a fifth of what the city requested.
“New York City taxpayers should not be on the hook for 80 percent of the national bill” to protect Republican President-elect Donald Trump and his family, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
In an interview with radio station WNYC, de Blasio said the city would keep pursuing the money in future rounds of federal spending legislation.
Since Trump won the Nov. 8 election, security around the eponymous Manhattan skyscraper where he lives and works has been stepped up to extraordinary levels. The New York Police Department has played a major role, along with the Secret Service and Trump’s private security personnel.
The Fifth Avenue tower is safeguarded by police officers armed with assault weapons, bomb-sniffing dogs and concrete barriers. Police have closed some traffic lanes, barricaded the block where Trump Tower residents have a private entrance and set up checkpoints manned by officers in guard booths.