Credit: © Anthony Behar
NY: 20th Anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks at Ground Zero
NEW YORK — New York Representative John Katko is pushing legislation to provide one-time grant funding to ramp up security at New York’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Katko, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, told the New York Post that a lack of tourism during the pandemic has left Ground Zero under-funded to protect against security threats, following the fall of the Afghan government.
“After being at the 9/11 Museum the last couple of days with my wife and my colleagues, you realize just the absolute sheer importance of that museum staying open and being a beacon for people never forgetting what happened on 9/11, and it’s incumbent upon us to try and help them,” he told the Post. “The security costs associated with this because of the bad guys still wanting to do harm to us or do harm to that place are profound.”
“And so if we can help them out to get them on the right track in the short term, so they’ve been on a good footing going forward I think it’s incumbent on us to do so,” he added.
The one-time grant would provide funding between $5 million and $10 million which would mostly go to security, operation and maintenance costs. The bill is also being backed by New York Reps. Elise Stefanik and Jerry Nadler.
