"He's good, he's been very outspoken on this issue all along, and he can cross party lines," he said of Bloomberg, who also spoke briefly with President Bush about the cuts yesterday. "He has now hit the stage of Washington celebrity. People will come and listen to him."

King said he was realistic about what he expected to come out of the hearing.

"The ideal is Chertoff saying I'm wrong, here's the money, but I don't think that is going to happen," said King. "The realistic optimum in that they give a broad enough definition of terror money that we get some transportation and interoperability money."

- Jason Horowitz