White House Spars With Schumer Over Anti-Terror Funding
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) -- A White House spokesman ripped Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Wednesday and questioned his credibility on national security issues after Schumer joined city officials in criticizing the administration's funding of local counterterrorism programs.
Schumer, of New York, this week complained about a White House plan to reduce the amount of new funding for a grant program that helps offset local municipalities' security expenditures. Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city's police and fire commissioners joined in the denunciation of the White House plan on Wednesday, saying it cut annual funding to the Urban Area Security Initiative from $600 million to $330 million.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest hit back not long after.
"At some point, Senator Schumer's credibility in talking about national security issues, particularly when the facts are as they are when it relates to homeland security, have to be affected by the position that he's taken on other issues," Earnest said. "Senator Schumer is somebody that came out and opposed the international agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He was wrong about that position ... and when people look at the facts here when it comes to funding for homeland security they'll recognize that he's wrong this time, too."
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TERROR_FUNDING_CUTS_NEW_YORK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-17-20-24-51
= new reply since forum marked as read
