Bill de Blasio: New York City taxpayers should not be saddled with cost of Trump security

The beef over the cost of keep President-elect Donald Trump safe in New York City is escalating.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and members of the New York delegation in Congress complained Wednesday that the stopgap spending bill that Republicans plan on passing this week only includes $7 million of the estimated $35 million the city will have invested in protecting Mr. Trump and his family by the time the Jan. 20 inauguration rolls around.

“New York City taxpayers should not be on the hook for 80 percent of the national bill to protect our president-elect and his family’s residence,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement. “We are counting on Congress to step up in the coming months to pay back what it owes our city. This is a national responsibility and the burden cannot fall alone on our city and police department.”

House Republicans on Tuesday introduced a spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, to keep the government running through April 28 in order to give Donald Trump and his administration time to settle in after the Jan. 20 inauguration.

In a letter sent Monday to President Obama and lawmakers, Mr. de Blasio requested reimbursement for the costs, which he estimated will climb to about $35 million by the time Mr. Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20.

That estimate is based off about $500,000 in costs per day from the time of Mr. Trump’s election through his inauguration. Members of New York delegation also urged Democratic and Republican leaders to fulfill their request.

Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the size of the request had not yet been justified.

“When they requested $35 [million] we looked into it carefully,” Mr. Rogers, Kentucky Republican. “There is frankly not the justifications that we have seen for more than $7 [million]. No. 2 we checked when Obama transitioned when he was in Chicago, and we gave them $7 million for this purpose. So we thought that was for the moment the fair thing to do.”

Mr. Rogers, though, said Congress could revisit the issue.

“We will continue to look at it — especially when we see justifications for more than $7 [million],” he said.

Rep. Nita Lowey, the ranking member on House Appropriations, made it clear that the issue is far from dead.

“Republicans’ failure to fully reimburse NYPD for its efforts to protect President-elect Trump is beyond disappointing,” the New York Democrat said. “The $7 [million] in funding that this bill does provide must be considered a down payment on the way to making NYC whole.”