Trump Administration Siphoning FDNY Money(Newsweek)[2020]

A White House official told Newsweek that the Treasury Department complied with its obligations to take the money and use it to pay what New York owes the federal government—but noted that the White House is actively working with King and others to find potential ways to provide aid to support the country's 9/11 heroes.

In an email sent to Newsweek, an administration official from the Treasury Department said that the goal of the department and King is to get the FDNY its funding. The official added that the Treasury Department has done everything in its power solve this issue and are actively working with New York City to find alternative ways of making it happen.

The Treasury Department also directed Newsweek to a letter sent to King on August 20, which stated the department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service is "required to offset federal payments for the collection of delinquent debts owed to the United states."

"In this case, between August 2016 and May 2020, TOP [Treasury Offset Program] took 292 offsets of payments to FDNY in the amount of $1,983,452.98. Each of these offsets was applied to delinquent Medicare Secondary Payer debt owed to the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services," the letter said. "These debts were owed by various entities within New York City that share the same TIN [taxpayer identification number]."