Trump Terrorism Budget: Will New Plans Hurt New York Counterterrorism Funding?

U.S. President Donald Trump talks tough when it comes to fighting terrorism and violence in general, but his budget says otherwise, New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Thursday.

O’Neill said Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget would gut counterterrorism operations, eliminating federal funding for such things as bomb squad and active shooter training as well as intelligence analysis.

“Under @POTUS budget, virtually all fed funding to #NYPD eradicated,” O’Neill warned on Twitter. “Entire counterterrorism apparatus in nation's top terror target hobbled.”

Read: San Francisco Calls President Trump's Executive Order On Sanctuary Cities Un-American

O’Neill spokesman Peter Donald tweeted the budget would make New York “less safe.”

The Trump budget doesn’t make specific mention of funding for New York police but does eliminate federal funding for cities that provide safe havens to undocumented immigrants. Such a funding cut would hit police the hardest, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has said.

Read: Spending Blueprint Expected To Target EPA, State Department, Safety-Net Programs

Trump issued an executive order earlier this month restricting federal funds for sanctuary cities to pressure their police departments to cooperate with immigration agents. Many cities argue such cooperation will destroy trust between immigrant communities and police, making it more difficult to control crime. San Francisco already has gone to court to fight the order.

Trump released his $1.1 trillion budget Thursday, expanding defense spending at the expense of domestic programs. The spending plan makes deep cuts in the federal bureaucracy, his first stab at dismantling what he’s called the “administrative state,” but makes no progress on cutting entitlement programs, something near and dear to the hearts of Republicans. The spending plan, in fact, increases outlays by $15 billion.

Congress now gets its hands on the document. The current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The budget shifts resources away from the poor, the environment, diplomacy, health services and the arts, slashing those programs by 20 percent so military spending can be expanded by $54 billion, a 10 percent increase.

The spending blueprint predictably was hailed by military supporters and conservatives, and criticized by advocates for the poor, the arts, scientists, Democrats, liberal organizations and even some Republicans.

“Our civil justice system cannot work for low-income individuals and families unless we fund programs to provide them with lawyers,” Richard Thornburgh, the former attorney general for Ronald Reagan and George Bush, said of cuts to legal aid.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, criticized Trump’s decision to cut $300 million from programs to protect Lake Erie, calling them “critical.”