N.Y.-N.J. senators call for funding to fight beetle outbreak

N.Y.-N.J. senators call for funding to fight beetle outbreak Following discovery of new infestations of the Asian longhorned beetles in Queens and Staten Island, New York and New Jersey senators are calling for sufficient federal funding to help eradicate the beetle in parts of the two states.
   In a letter to the Senate Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez, of New Jersey — who say they have the support of Sen. Frank Lautenberg — are requested $48 million in federal funds to help stop the infestation by the wood-boring pest, which is believed to have arrived in the United States from Asia in wood packaging material.