Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley took President Bush and the Republican Party to task Saturday for failing to provide cities with funds to protect against terrorist attacks.

"Your neglect of homeland defense funding has relegated 'the common defense' to yet another unfunded federal mandate for already cash-strapped cities cities that are still reeling from federal and state tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy," O'Malley said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

O'Malley, who was chosen by Senate minority leader Tom Daschle to give the Democratic rebuttal, said Baltimore, "like every city and town in America, has been left virtually defenseless by a federal government's failure to fund homeland defense."

Fire, police and health workers are the "front-line soldiers of our homeland defense," yet they are still "without the necessary equipment, training and communication systems that they need," he said.

The mayor urged Bush, as he prepares for next week's State of the Union address, not to make "teary tributes to our fallen police and fire heroes until you back up our living first responders with the tools and equipment they need to protect our nation."