The composition of the U.S. Senate could soon partly claim another urban victim - homeland security funds for New York City.
The city that bears the starkest terrorist target on its back must compete with 64 cities for shrinking funds, from $887 million to $725 million in the current budget that runs to Sept. 30. The 20 percent cut was part of the Republican-imposed budget deal reached between President Obama and members of Congress.
New York House members attempted to pare down the number of eligible cities from 64 to 25 or less, but Senate members vetoed the idea, according to The New York Daily News.
U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, a Westchester Democrat, told the News that the city will lose $27 million because of the large number of competitors.
“It is appalling that a united House position - and common sense - weren’t enough to convince the Senate that the most at-risk areas need this security funding,” she said.
Rep. Pete King, a Long Island Republican, added, “I guess Nashville has the Grand Ole Opry, but in terms of landmarks at risk and assets being targeted, nothing comes close to New York City.”
Besides Nashville, other cities eligible to compete for anti-terror funds are Anaheim, Calif., Bridgeport, Conn., Baton Rouge, La., Omaha, Neb., Toledo, Ohio, and Richmond, Va., according to the News.
It is a common practice for lawmakers to respond to a situation which mainly affects one or a few communities by spreading funds to other towns which do not need it for this purpose. That’s why state money is often allotted to wealthy as well as poor school districts.
On the federal level, we are stuck with a dual system of tradeoffs. All House members represent the same number of people, but senators can demand more because each state is represented by the same number of senators no matter what the population.
As a result, senators from a large state must concede even more than they would if the Senate was based on proportionate representation.
James Madison was among five framers of the Constitution who saw this coming. So did some critics during the ratification process in 1787 and 1788.
Madison nonetheless fought for ratification because the smaller states demanded equal representation in the Senate or there would be no Constitution.
New Jersey and Maryland, then small states, are now large, liberal northeastern states, and Delaware’s Democratic senators typically side with the Democratic bloc.
The decision made more than two centuries ago is expected to cost NYC $27 million today. Ground Zero is located eight blocks from the downtown Manhattan site where George Washington was inaugurated as our first president on April 30, 1789.
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