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ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is being asked to break a logjam in funding, holding up an effort to allow regional emergency personnel to be able to communicate with one another.

At issue is $325,000 in federal funding, already approved, that police agencies want to use to upgrade existing radios so that all of the agencies can easily call one another. The problem is that the Homeland Security Department says the money can only be used to buy new radios, not to upgrade existing ones. The local agency says replacing radios would be too expensive.

Now, they have the backing of the state's senior U.S. Senator.

"It's that Washington Catch-22? Washington bureaucratic gobbledy-gook at its worst? So, we've got to fix this backward thinking," Senator Charles Schumer said.

Schumer says he's written to Napolitano asking her to grant a waiver and allow the existing funds to be spent to upgrade the radios. He expects the secretary to understand the local argument makes sense.