Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Bipartisan Members of the United States Congress Host a Press Conference Regarding Urban Area Security Initiative Funding

August 17, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We’re here to talk about the safety and security of all New Yorkers, and the fact that New York remains the number one terror target in this country. And that we are doing all in our power – in the City of New York – to protect eight-and-a-half-million New Yorkers everyday plus the three million people who come each day to work from outside New York. Plus, the almost 60 million tourists who will be visiting us this year – we, every single day expand a huge effort to protect them. And, I want to thank all of the agencies who were involved today – the NYPD, the FDNY, Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Health – all work together to protect the people of this city and all of our visitors. But we cannot do it alone, we need the federal government to be a partner and for many years the federal government has been a partner. In these last months we have experienced something troubling: a lack of willingness on the part of the congressional leadership to move on a matter of tremendous importance to the people of New York City, which is the UASI funding that we depend on to prevent terrorist attacks and to protect our people.

You are going to hear from my colleagues in a moment but the bottom line here is on behalf of eight and a half million New Yorkers, I am calling upon the congressional leadership to act, to make sure these anti-terror funds are available to protect our people. Stop the gridlock on an issue that should be one of absolute consensus. If ever there was a bipartisan issue, this should be it – fighting terrorism, protecting people’s health and safety. But, we need the congressional leadership to make the decision to act and act now, so we can continue our efforts. We are here with members of Congress. It is a bipartisan delegation. I want to thank them. You will hear from each of them.

I want to thank them – they’ve all been stalwart protecting the interests of New York City and the entire region in terms of anti-terror funding and today they’ve had a chance to get a good look at the operations of the four agencies that I indicated to look in-depth at what they are doing to protect us and how the federal funding is such a crucial part of that picture. It’s particularly important in terms of the training and the equipment and the technology that we depend on to always stay one step ahead of the terrorists.

I want to remind people, one place in this country that can speak tragically with authority on this topic is New York City. Not only did we go through the worst terrorist attack on the history of this country on 9/11, there have been 20 plots directed at New York City, or originating in New York City since 9/11 – all of them thwarted because of the extraordinary work of the men and women of the NYPD and all of its sister agencies. And in large measure thwarted because of an extraordinary intelligence gathering operation, because of the best technology, the best training. These tools have made all of the difference but they constantly have to be updated and improved. And that takes real resources. New York City has always done its share – we have always shouldered a substantial amount of this cost. Taxpayers in this city are doing a lot to protect our city but not just our city itself, what this city means to this whole country – the economic hub of the country.

One of the great cities of the world, a place of tremendous importance that must be protected. New York City’s taxpayers are covering a lot of that cost and have been since 9/11. It’s only fair that this also be a federal priority. No city more important in our whole country. The federal government has to act to protect us but again for months, we’ve seen gridlock, we’ve seen inaction. So we are calling on the Congress to get it right, to protect the people of New York and the entire Metropolitan area. And in fact protect our country by providing these crucial anti-terror funds. We know we are the number one terror target, we’ve known that for a long time. We’ve, every single day, acted with the vigilance necessary because of that reality. We know that we are a place that’s in the crosshairs of terror for so many reasons: again a national economic hub, a hub for a region of over 20 million people.

Now, this is a regional issue if ever there was one in a place that symbolizes the American Dream. We symbolize the values of an inclusive multicultural, multi-faith society and that’s another reason we are in the crosshairs of terrorists who want to divide us, who want to sow hatred. We also understand that an attack on New York City has huge ramifications for this nation’s economy and if you want any evidence of that remember what happened after 9/11. The DOW dropped 600 points in the aftermath of 9/11 and that attack deepened the 2001 recession. We can’t let that happen, we have to be prepared. We have to be in a position to prevent any future attack.

Now, when we turn to our New York delegation, they’ve been outstanding. They’ve all been focused and in addition to the members of Congress here, I want to thank Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand who have been in the forefront as well trying to move this to the top of the congressional agenda. And the appropriations committees in both the Senate and in the House have acted—both of them have voted for 600 million in UASI funding. Again, the acronym is for Urban Area Security Initiative. They’ve both acted but, that will not get the resources to these agencies that need them. We need a vote of the full Congress.

I’ve mentioned New York City’s own efforts. You’ve seen it. We’re adding 2000 more police officers by the end of this year between new officers and officers going on patrol as a result of civilization. We built from scratch the Critical Response Command. And I thank Commissioner Bratton, I thank Chief O’Neill and all those who have been part of building that capacity. That’s what the people of New York City devoted their resources to – creating the kind of personnel base we needed to make the changes to better protect ourselves. We depend on the federal government to give us the other pieces of the equation. We are already going to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars each year of our own money but we need those additional funds for the training and technology – all of the advanced equipment that makes such a difference.

We know that this is about all of the agencies. NYPD takes the lead in fighting the terror plots but we have to be ready for any and all eventualities. That’s why the Fire Department matters, Emergency Management Matters, Health Department matters, our Congress members have seen the capacity of each of them today. They’ll talk to you about that recognizing each one of these agencies is ready in the event of an attack to protect people and to minimize any impact in addition to all of the preventative efforts of the NYPD. And I want to thank Commissioner Nigro, Commissioner Bassett, and Commissioner Esposito for all they do and all their teams do.

First responders in this city are unsurpassed. They have a tremendous track record of protecting the people in this city. We have a saying here in New York City, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ The federal government has to remember that if this formula has worked, providing the support to the first responders in the country, we can’t stop now just as the terror threats are mounting and becoming more complex. This is a time for additional investment in protecting our people not for stepping away from federal responsibility.

Just a few words in Spanish and then you’ll hear from Commissioner Bratton and our congressional colleagues.             

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that I want to call up Commissioner Bratton. Commissioner, you have so much to be proud of in terms of the efforts that you’ve undertaken and your whole team, to take what was already a strong anti-terror capacity and take it very much to the next level – to the level that we are now the best prepared of any city in the country to fight terror due to your leadership. And I thank you. Commissioner Bill Bratton—    

Police Commissioner William Bratton: Pleasure to be here with my colleagues, the other commissioners who were referenced, certainly the congressional delegation – and with this mayor who is certainly during my three years here been an extraordinary leader and supporter as it relates to traditional crime, but very specifically what we’re here to talk about today, the potential of terrorism once again striking the city. He just made a comment that the idea of if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, well as it relates to terrorism we always assume it may break. So we’re constantly seeking to identify where there may be weaknesses, and as we’ve clearly seen over these last three years terrorism is not a static entity.

It is not just al-Qaeda, now it’s ISIS. And in the changing world that we’re having to continually deal with requires that we constantly focus on this issue with a sense of urgency. What is missing at this time at the federal level is a reflection of the need for that urgency. The idea that – and I hesitate to talk because the congressional delegation from New York has been solidly behind the effort both in the Senate and Congress level – to try and keep moving these funding measures forward with speed, with urgency, but the larger body has not – and at the President’s level – has not responded with the same urgency that we feel. The idea that they’ve been on summer vacation – these ideas are languishing. They come back shortly, and the idea that they may then adjourn early to possibly go off and campaign when in the presidential campaign we hear constantly about the urgency of this issue of terrorism to the country, to the world, and certainly to this city.

So the idea that they will not vote on this issue, the idea that we’re spending all this time – how many conferences have I had with you, the media, talking about this issue? That we have to spend so much time urging that they do something – it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating because three years ago when I arrived back as commissioner – thanks to the appointment by this mayor – after I received the initial briefings, I was very impressed with all that had been built by my predecessor since the events of 9/11 with a sense of urgency. The room we’re sitting in did not exist back during those times 15 years ago. It is one of the nerve centers that supports it, largely supported by federal government monies that were focused on protecting this city and protecting this country.

So what we are tasking is that there be a recognition at this time in the world, with ISIS morphing once again as they reduce the size of its caliphate – now seeking through all of its skills with social media, seeking to spread the disease even more quickly and in more insidious fashions – to weaken our ability to deal with this issue – and it’s not New York issue – these funds support efforts around the country. So this idea that New York they’ve got plenty of money they’ll take care of it.

Well, New York we ask for a lot but we ask for a lot because we understand the essentiality of New York to this country. These funds are not all for New York. They’re to support many other cities efforts in this arena. And so hopefully with you in the media and as the congressional delegation gets up to speak to what they’re trying to do we can accelerate the sense of urgency where apparently right now in Washington there is not one. I can guarantee you, if there were to be a terrorism incident during this presidential campaign there’d be an awful lot of this –

[Points around the room]

Well we’re here to say rather than having a lot of –

[Pointing]

Let’s have this –

[Brings fingers together]

Let’s have cohesion. I’ve worked very hard with this mayor over the last three years to ensure we have seamless relationships with every agency involved in this issue, that we have sought to have seamless relationships with our congressional delegation. This issue is too important to play politics with, and effectively what we’re dealing with is politics. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. I want to say to the congressional delegation – again they’ve been very focused, very forceful on this. I want you to hear from each of them. I want to start with a man who I can say with assurance we’re going to miss. He’s done an outstanding job in Congress. He’s always looked out for New York City and the entire metropolitan area, and I think to many members of Congress he’s been one of the voices of reason that cuts across all the boundaries and people respect the voice of. Steve, this is going to be a chance for, one more time, we’re going to need that voice of reason and your leadership to bring this home. Representative Steve Israel.

Congressman Steve Israel: Thank you so much Mayor de Blasio for being on the frontlines of keeping the people of New York City safe and secure. Commissioner Bratton, thank you for your work. We salute your many years of public service. It is unfathomable to me that a public servant would make a decision to leave public service. I don’t understand that at all.

[Laughter]

But I am available to be an unpaid intern to the Mayor on January first. I make a nice cup of coffee.

I was pleased to help organize this small but powerful delegation: my colleague, Congressman Donovan, who shares the Homeland Security subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications; my colleague Kathleen Rice who’s a member of that subcommittee, and plays a critical role on the full committee. I just want to make a few points. Number one – I’ve just returned from Afghanistan. I spent one week in Afghanistan. I went there because the President of the United States had made a decision that this was no time to reduce our commitment and resources to keeping the people of Afghanistan safe and secure. And it was the right decision, courageous decision. And if this is no time for us to reduce our commitment of resources to keep the people of Afghanistan safe and secure, then this is certainly not the time to reduce the commitment of resources to keep the people of New York City secure or all the American people. And the best way we can do that, the best way we can keep these peoples secure is to put politics aside and get to work in Washington D.C. and pass the Homeland Security appropriations bill at a level of $600 million.

Now the president budgeted about $300 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative. That was insufficient. Thanks to the bipartisan work of Congressman Donovan and Congresswoman Rice, my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee on which I serve, we were able to pass that bill at $600 million. That’s at least what the City needs, but a committee passing a bill is irrelevant until the House passes it, the Senate passes it, and the President signs it. And right now we are in absolute gridlock.

Congress has not been in session since the middle of July. We go back on September 6th. The new federal fiscal year begins on October 1st. The clock is ticking. We will have three weeks to pass the appropriations bill with adequate levels of funding for the City of New York and other cities to protect their people.

Now there’s lots of talk in Congress right now, there’s all sorts of rumors swirling that we may just go back as the Commissioner said, go back on September 6th, pass a temporary spending bill, and then get out of town. That would be the height of irresponsibility. We need to put politics aside and pass the $600 million and pass it in a clean way – not with riders, not with poison pills – this should not be a debate over Planned Parenthood. This should be a debate over planning the protection of the people of the City of New York. This should not be a debate over immigration. This should be a debate over how to provide the resources that are necessary to keep people safe.

And so our message, our bipartisan message, to both sides of the aisle is when we go back on September 6, let’s take the bill that was passed by the appropriations committee, let’s strip it of poison pills and riders, get it passed by the House, get it passed by the Senate, get it to the President’s desk, and let’s get this funding dispersed and allocated immediately. And not let the federal fiscal year without providing New York City with the funding that it needs. Final point and then I will introduce my colleagues. We organized this delegation because we want to be able to make the case to our colleagues that these investments are critically important and how they’re critically important. So we saw the vapor wake dogs that sniffed out a decoy explosive faster than some of my colleagues would sniff out a PAC check. Present company excepted.

[Laughter]

And we met with the Health Commissioner and learned about medical countermeasures that are available. And we saw the extraordinary work of the lower Manhattan Security Initiative, and we will be meeting with the Commissioner – the Fire Commissioner – and taking a look at containment vessels. These tools are absolutely necessary not just for the people of the City of New York, but for the people of the United States of America, and I want to – I will close where I began – having been to Afghanistan and having thanked our men and women who are in Jalalabad and Kabul and elsewhere, protecting New Yorkers from continued threat, I want to thank the personnel of the City of new York for getting up every single morning and protecting the people of New York in the same dedicated way. With that I want to introduce my colleague who does wonderful work, did wonderful work as a district attorney and continues to do wonderful work for his constituents, Congressman Dan Donovan from Staten Island and Brooklyn.

Congressman Daniel Donovan: Steve, thank you for that introduction. When the Mayor spoke about how my next speaker is going to be missed in Congress – I’m up for reelection I was so glad you didn’t introduce me then after that.

[Laughter]

I think so many of our folks – and let me just for a moment publicly thank my friend Bill Bratton. You’ve been a good friend to me. You’ve been a good friend to the people of New York, and you’ve been a great protector of the 8.5 million people that live here. Thank you, Bill. There are some of our colleagues in Congress who think that what happened in lower Manhattan – this September it will be 15 years ago – was an attack on New York not an attack on America.

There are many of our colleagues who believe – as I believe the Mayor said – they think New York has the money. They have Wall Street. They have all this tax revenue. They can pay for these things themselves. Protecting New York protects America. We are still the number one terrorist target in the entire world.

I just came from London at a terrorism conference where people from all over the world gathered and spoke about how we can combat terrorism in foreign lands where it originates from. I spoke about how we combat terrorism here. A lot of things that Steve spoke about that we witnessed today is just a small part of the efforts by our commissioners here to protect our city.

A lot of the things they do we can’t talk about because – believe it or not – even the bad guys watch the news everyone once in a while, but their efforts need to be supported by the federal government.

Steve Israel is correct. The president proposed budget had $330 million in UASI grant when it was proposed. We rejected that. Steve and his fellow appropriators, the people who appropriate the money that keeps our government running, realized that the $600 million – and $180 million of that last year came to New York, we got $180 million out of the $600 million – that that was necessary and the folks who have to purchase the equipment, train the experts – the professionals in doing what it takes to protect our city – know that each and every year it becomes more and more expensive, and each and every year it becomes more and more expensive and each month the technology they use changes and they have to keep updating with the rest of the world. So our mission – Steve, Kathleen, and myself is to tell our fellow Americans down in Congress – the other 432 of them – that this is not just important to New York City, it’s important to America.

And if we do our job the protect New York we will be protecting the rest of America. So thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your leadership in this area. I am the chairman of the Emergency Response – Preparedness, Response and Communication Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, and the mayor was kind of enough to come down and testify before my committee to talk about the devastation that would happen to our efforts to protect the city of New York if the grant funding wasn’t restored and isn’t eventually voted upon. I thank you for your advocacy, Mayor.

And now, Kathleen Rice. She’s great. She’s my friend from Long Island –

[Laughter]

Congresswoman Kathleen Rice: Alright, alright. That’s enough, that’s enough. We heard enough.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Commissioner, thank you for joining us here today. I am very well aware of the great work that the NYPD does as, you know, having served for nine years as the DA in Nassau County, and partnering with this incredible agency. I just want to reiterate something that the Commissioner said. I think it’s really important to remember that while this funding for New York City is critically important, there are other cities across this country that need this funding as well. And we’ve seen terrorists attack elsewhere, and I wish that – I’m very happy to be sitting here with Steve and with Dan – but I wish that I was sitting here with every other member of Congress because they have to understand that this is not just a New York City-centric thing. New York City clearly – and being led by the NYPD – is doing their job. Congress needs to do theirs.

I just want to leave you with one thought. I’ve only been in Washington for 18 months, and I have to say that the one feeling that is persistent over these past 18 months for me is frustration. And I can only imagine how frustrating it is for the American people that we’re sitting here talking about begging people in our position to do our job. It’s pathetic. And I hope that by this show of bipartisanship with Dan and Steve and I, that that’s going to be a message to the rest of our colleagues that when we get down to Washington we have to get down to business and get this done once and for all. Thank you very much.

Mayor: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Okay, we’re going to take questions on the UASI and other terrorism related topics. Yes?

Question: So if I heard Congressman Donovan correctly, how much money is the city out of this $600 million supposed to get? Is it $180 million? And I just remember just a few months ago we were here – not here in this building, but down at 1PP – talking about the cuts and how horrible they were. So it seems like we have the money now, but what could potentially happen if we don’t get whatever money that we –

Mayor: Let me just give you a very – an overview – and then turn to Congressman Israel and Commissioner Bratton to drill down some more. The bottom line is that we have rigorous training that is necessary to keep our anti-terror forces at the top of their game to confront ever-changing terror dynamics. We have the latest technology and that has to be constantly upgraded and maintained, and obviously new equipment needed on a regular basis. These are the ways we stay ahead of the problem, and we’ve done that successfully, now, for 15 years with a very big investment by the people of New York City but that continued investment by the federal government as well.

So, this is about staying ahead of a problem that in fact is growing and becoming more complicated. The Commissioner can talk to you more about the details of that, and then one of the Congress members – Steve or whoever who wants to – talk about the numbers.

Commissioner Bratton: Thank you. I think I may understand your question that you may recall, a while back, we were concerned that the President was proposing a cut from the $600 million to $300 million which would have been a 50 percent reduction – $90 to $100 million in what we would have received. We were successful with the great leadership both on the Senate side and the House side of the New York delegations to get that money restored, and that’s what we’re talking about today. The money’s been restored but now to have Congress act on its appropriation and have the President sign it. So, it’s what I’m talking about.

The amount of time we’re spending on this – first to get the cut reversed but now to get the money allocated. So, by clarification, the amount of money to us is approximately about $180, $200 million – about one-third approximately of the overall grant. But where we are now is the concern that if Congress doesn’t act on this or they start chewing it up, that come October when they pass the new budget – pfft – it’s gone.

Congressman Israel: I’ll confirm, it’s $180 million – what New York City would receive. If we don’t pass a clean funding bill at the level of $600 million, and it’s folded in to a continuing resolution, automatically that $600 million drops about $20 million which means automatically New York City’s share drops. And so, our point is, let’s not play games, let’s not put this in any temporary spending bill or omnibus, just pass the $600 million that the appropriators have already agreed on without poison pills and [inaudible].

Question: [Inaudible].

Mayor: Well, it’s absolutely the case today because we’ve had continuity of federal support and because we have made immense new investments here in New York City. If you look at everything the Commissioner’s talked about that we’ve invested in the effectiveness of the NYPD and the safety of our officers over the last two-and-a-half years, it’s almost two billion dollars in additional investment. So, to date, we’re doing very, very well. If the federal government starts to back away from its commitment then our capacity will start to decline. So, this is why there’s urgency. Today, we are the safest big city in America. Today, we have 15 years of success at thwarting terror plots. We’ve had huge events we had to deal with.

Remember, when the Pope visited, when the UN General Assembly happened, we had the Super Bowl a few year ago, we have New Year’s Eve every year, Macy’s Parade – some of those federal resources help but a lot of that, again, is the spending by the City of New York that sustains all the security needed for those kind of events, and we’ve done it very successfully – tremendous credit to the NYPD and the other agencies. But if that funding starts to decline, then we have a problem.

Question: Mr. Mayor and Commissioner, part of the challenge in New York City is security when there are places that are beyond purely NYPD’s jurisdiction [inaudible] Sunday night at JFK airport. I’m curious to understand if you have a better sense of what happened there Sunday night, what the NYPD’s role is in working with the Port Authority to ensure that if there is a terror attack at a site like that that is not just under the NYPD’s jurisdiction? How would you coordinate? And what is the role of social media in that type of incident since [inaudible] –

Mayor: Let me just start with a broad point and then turn to the Commissioner. We all have to do better at the airports, there’s no question about it. That means NYPD, that means Port Authority Police, City, State all working together. And I think we learned some important lessons from this weekend. Deputy Commissioner John Miller started the conversation with the Port Authority, literally, in the aftermath of that incident and has been continuing that discussion ever since. We’re going to work to improve our coordination, make sure that the resources are there to deal with any incident like this.

There’s been plenty of cross-training and other efforts before to coordinate but we have to do better – and we have to make sure that we inform the public better in any situation like this.

Commissioner Bratton: As it relates to the Sunday night event at JFK, the good news is that there was no substance to all the 9-1-1 calls that were coming in about shots fired [inaudible] that shots were fired. That some of the confusion that was apparently evident there was – one – the fact that there was not an actual incident so that in an active-shooter situation, you would anticipate that there would be casualties, you would anticipate that there’d still be a shooter. That you would focus all of those resources – as you know we train to go to it, and then go at it. And Sunday night’s event there was none of that. So, the confusion, if you will, the thought [inaudible] – that phrase – about what actually is happening here.

So, a good learning event for us, as far as going forward, as we always attempt to learn from, not only events that occur here but around the world. In terms of the coordination aspect of it – because it did occur at the airport, our arrangements with the Port Authority Police as it relates to their jurisdiction issues, whether it’s the Port Authority Bus Terminals or anything that they control – that we are working under the unity of command agreement, where they are the lead agency. We are there to support them, and respond to their guidance. And that was in effect on Sunday evening.

And that’s all aspects of the event, whether its media relations – getting information out to you in the media, information to the public. So, we will seek to determine – in terms of media, to you – information for the public. As you know, we have invested a huge amount of money in the NYPD personnel on our social media outreach capabilities for just this type of event. So, we can keep [inaudible] seeking to inform ourselves, we can keep the public informed of train delays, traffic delays, fire, rerouting of traffic.

So, a lot to learn from this event the other evening – improving the protocols where appropriate, between Port Authority and ourselves. So, we do what we call – the expression I think you in the media are familiar with – hot wash. There will be a hot wash of this that we will participate in to look at what worked. What worked was that we, in a very short period of time, had three to four hundred police officers with the right equipment at that location. So if there had been an actual event or multiple events – which we train for – at multiple terminals, we would have resources there.

Fire Department – basically, their ambulance resources, their fire trucks, etcetera were there. So, the response was satisfactory from our perspective but the confusion was around the fact that it was, fortunately – we need to be thankful for this – a false alarm that we can learn from.

Mayor: A just quickly, one additional point. You know, this was a good example of the fact that we have the Critical Response Command now in addition to the Emergency Services Unit that were in a position to respond in those great numbers very, very quickly. So, it’s another example where the personnel investments and the training investments paid off in terms of being able to very rapidly flood the area with a large number of highly-trained officers. Again, I want to see us do better going forward. Yes?

Question: You mentioned [inaudible] continuity of funding, and I’m wondering if there’s any thoughts about New York City, sort of, looking for its own independent revenues [inaudible] support some of these. When you spoke about universal pre-K you had told the Governor that even Albany couldn’t be relied on for its agreements to fund that. Why should New York City not start to look at increasing its contributions [inaudible] –

Mayor: Well, my first response to that is that, that would let the federal government off the hook for their responsibilities. I think that would be a very troubling precedent. The federal government is responsible for national security. This squarely falls under the rubric of national security. We’re the number one terror target in the country. There are terrorists right now in countries all over the globe thinking about an attack on New York City, and they’re doing it because we’re, to them, the number one symbol of America. That is a federal responsibility to address with us. So, I don’t want to let them off the hook.

Question: Just back to the airport for a second – do you think ShotSpotter would have been helpful in that situation? Or do those work indoors?

Commissioner Bratton: The ShotSpotter technology could have been potentially beneficial because the technology as it’s being perfected will effectively over time allow for a [inaudible] it wasn’t an actual gunshot versus a fire cracker versus whatever was the noise that set everything off out there the other evening. So, the technology is still not where we would like it to be. Good news about the ShotSpotter-type technology which you’re very familiar with here in the city – the Mayor’s been very supportive of its expansion – I think early next year we’ll have almost 60-square-miles of the city covered with it.

We are now looking at street light capabilities where every street light could effectively be both a ShotSpotter camera as well as the ability to control the voltage of the light – increasing lightage for example if there was a shot, it’d increase the wattage. It sounds, right now – it’s very much in the preliminary stage of looking at those capabilities. But we have – and actually the Mayor has not had a presentation yet on this potential capability with our 250,000 street lights. Rather than just putting up three ShotSpotter devices, you could effectively put them into the street lights.

So, the technology that we’ve been acquiring, the technology that may be out there available to us is of significant benefit in dealing with these issues. But on that event, the other evening, I’m not sure – I don’t think we’re quite sure yet what the noises were that people thought they were actually gun shots.

Mayor: Marcia.

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you tell [inaudible] what would happen if New York City did not get the $180 million, and how vulnerable it could potentially –

Mayor: Absolutely, Marcia. This is what I’d say to the members of Congress – if Congress doesn’t act, New York City will become less safe. It’s as simple as that. And we will have less ability to protect against a terror attack. If Congress doesn’t act, there are going to be a lot of happy terrorists out there in the world because they’re going to have a chance to come at us with less of our defenses up.

So, from my point of view, we have a formula that has worked, now, for 15 straight years – a very vigorous level of investment by the NYPD in intelligence gathering and counter-terror activities. We’ve now added to that in a way that we’ve never seen before with the Critical Response Command. But it also requires the federal investment in the training, in the technology, in the equipment to keep us on the cutting edge, and make us able to thwart terror efforts that are more complex than we’ve ever seen them before.

So, this is a matter of national security and protecting the biggest city in the country. And if Congress doesn’t act, we simply won’t have the capacity we have had to-date to protect against terror.

Yea?

Question: When this whole issue came up earlier this year, the White House and other folks said New York City isn’t spending the money [inaudible] –

Mayor: That’s ridiculous.

Question: Can you help us reconcile that position –

Mayor: We’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – every dollar has been spent or is being spent. It’s as simple as that. When you’re getting complex equipment, you don’t pick out of the catalogue or go online and say send me this thing immediately, and they just put it on, you know – in the mail to you. A lot of stuff has to be built. It has to be specialized-order. It takes time. But every dollar is being used. And the Congress members saw today what that means – the technology, the equipment, the training. It’s constantly being improved upon. We are constantly upgrading it. Every dollar has been used. Every dollar will be used – and we’ve documented that.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I think it’s spin – I don’t think it’s any lack of evidence –

Commissioner Bratton: Smoke and mirrors.

Mayor: Yea. I’m going to borrow from the Commissioner – smoke and mirrors. There’s never been any evidence of money not being spent.

Question: Are we currently in danger? Do you have the [inaudible] –

Mayor: Right now – right now we’re the best protected city in the country. We’ve said that many times, and we see it more and more. And even though there’s some things we want to do better at the airports with our partners at the Port Authority – as the Commissioner said – the immediate response by hundreds of highly-trained, well-equipped officers is a very good sign. Many parts of the world – many big cities in the world could never do anything like that. So, we are the best protected we’ve ever been. But we’ve got to stay that way.

Question: Mayor, just yesterday, you were talking about not getting funding from Congress for Zika. Today, we’re talking about not getting funding for –

Mayor: There seems to be a pattern here, doesn’t there?

Question: Yes [inaudible] Obama administration too on this issue? Like, what’s the problem? What is your message to Washington about New York City [inaudible]?

Mayor: Look, this is not a surprise that there’s a problem in Washington when it comes to investing in areas of health and safety, and security, natural disasters. This has been an ongoing problem now for years. Remember the whole fight after Sandy to get the very same kind of aid that would have been a no-brainer in the past. This should be a no-brainer. So, my colleagues can speak better to it than I, but there is a problem that is much bigger than just a problem for New York City. You can speak –

Congressman Israel: Look, Zika – Washington’s inaction on Zika is not Washington’s inaction on Zika. The administration asked for $1.9 billion – and the Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, on a partisan basis, refused to make that investment arguing that we should just take the money from Ebola – which is to rob from Peter to pay Paul.

Part of what we hear, however – and I think this is bipartisan, you know, it’s not Republicans versus Democrats, very often it is New York versus much of the rest of the country. So, I’ve heard on members-only elevators, “Why should we keep giving you guys money for Homeland Security? It doesn’t help my constituents,” they say. My response is – “Why are we paying you $40 billion every ten years for crop subsidies?” That doesn’t really necessarily help my constituents. It helps their constituents. This is one country, and if we’re going to invest in crop subsidies for farmers in Tennessee, then Tennessee members of Congress ought to invest in keeping the American people safe – and keeping them safe in the number one target for terrorists in the world, and that is New York City.

Question: Who specifically said that?

Congressman Israel: Oh, I heard it constantly. During the Sandy debate I heard it. During the debate over UASI, I’ve heard it from members who say, I can’t go to a town – they’re very honest – they have said, “I can’t go to a town meeting and justify to my constituents spending all this money for New York. New York has plenty of money.”

Question: Do you want to name them?

Mayor: Okay, last call, last call.

Question: If you have to cut, where do you think about making cuts? Does the counter-terrorism bureau shrink? Do you not get new equipment? I know you had announced a lot of new –

Commissioner Bratton: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The idea here is with your assistance reporting on this event to get the full Congress – when they reconvene – to do the right thing. And then get the President to do the right thing, since he started this whole mess. He and OMB – your question about OMB – they were cute, very cute in terms of what they were alleging. “Well, you got a couple of hundred million dollars in the pipeline that haven’t been spent, so why don’t we just cut that?” Yes, expect I have contracts to pay for stuff when it gets in here. They purposely give us three years to spend the money because they have to put out bids, I have to basically receive bids, I have to analyze bids. And in New York City, we don’t pay for it until we get it to make sure we get [inaudible]. So, that we do spend every dollar but we get what we pay for.

So, OMB was being very cute – smoke and mirrors, and the President – for whatever his reason. So, this whole mess really began at OMB, and here we are spending countless hours of our time.

So, I’m not going to until we cross that bridge – until I have to come to it. But I’m hoping with the support of, certainly, the New York delegation and others that we don’t have to try to basically cross the bridge as the drawbridge is raising. Hopefully, it’ll be closed and we can get across it will no further issues.

Mayor: Thanks everyone.