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In Fiscal Year 2024, Western New York Received Nearly $1 Million From the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, during a Committee on Homeland Security budget hearing, Congressman Tim Kennedy (NY-26) condemned Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for the Trump Administration’s intent to eliminate critical funding to combat domestic terrorism like the 5/14 Tops Supermarket shooting.

(Congressman Kennedy during hearing)

Congressman Kennedy underscored the growing threat of domestic terrorism, emphasizing the deep scars that forever changed his community in Buffalo, New York, following the May 14, 2022, mass shooting. The gunman’s deadly, racially motivated attack on a predominantly Black community in Buffalo resulted in the deaths of 10 innocent people and severely injured three others. Kennedy called out Secretary Noem for her Department’s failure to address the growing threat of domestic terrorism. 

“Secretary Noem, in your written testimony today, there is not one mention of this kind of threat to the homeland. You refer to Foreign Terrorist Organizations, you refer to aliens affiliated with foreign terrorism, and you refer to arrests of suspected gang members. Not once do you mention the term ‘domestic terrorism,’ ‘domestic terrorist,’ or ‘lone wolf,’” Congressman Kennedy said during the hearing.

Kennedy highlighted that the Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget seeks to eliminate DHS’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) grant program. This critical program, which helped local communities like Buffalo after the 5/14 tragedy, funds efforts to prevent targeted violence, including terrorism driven by domestic radicalization.

“Because of this act of domestic terrorism - radicalized and indoctrinated online, and carried out in the name of white supremacy - families in my community will never be whole again,” Kennedy told Secretary Noem. “The budget proposal you are defending today justifies the elimination of this funding by arguing it was ‘weaponized to target Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.’ If the suggestion is that an act of domestic terrorism, which took the lives of ten innocent people and forever changed my community, qualifies as protected First Amendment speech, then explain that to the families of the victims.”

Kennedy called the administration’s actions to defund domestic terrorism prevention “blatant negligence” as well as a failure to protect American communities from violent, radicalized criminals. On the day of the third anniversary of the Tops Supermarket shooting, Kennedy expressed disgust at the Department of Homeland Security for “making excuses for domestic terrorists under the guise of free speech and insulting communities like mine.”

Kennedy reaffirmed his commitment to fighting for better protections against domestic terrorism and ensuring that communities like Western New York receive the support they need to heal and prevent future tragedies.

“We can do better and we must do better," Kennedy concluded. 

To watch Congressman Kennedy’s full remarks visit here.

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