California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is headed for a showdown today with Connecticut and Maine lawmakers who want to divert anti-terrorism money from Los Angeles and other high-threat areas to small states like the ones they represent.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have introduced an amendment to a $31.9 billion homeland security spending bill that seeks to distribute 40 percent of grants to every state, no matter how significant or minor its terrorist targets.

California lawmakers and state experts said this formula, set for a vote today, could translate into a $20 million loss for the Los Angeles area, severely undermining the region's anti-terrorism efforts.

"It is absolutely critical that our dollars go to where the threat is greatest and where resources can do the most good," Feinstein said Monday.

"In my view, we've got to move to a system where the grants follow the threat and are distributed primarily based on risk and threat, not on geographic or political factors," she said.

Her plan, introduced with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, metes out only 13 percent of the estimated $2.9 billion in homeland security grants to each state, regardless of risk.

Congress would distribute the remaining 87 percent based on a national risk assessment from the Homeland Security Department.

Anne Marie Conroy, director of California's Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security in San Francisco, said the seemingly arcane fight over funding formulas is critical to Los Angeles and other metropolitan areas.

"The terrorists targeted Madrid, New York City and London for a reason. They are large urban areas that have international recognition," Conroy said.

"I would think, after what happened in London, that the U.S. Senate and Congress would recognize the risk that our large, urban areas are faced with and that any hope of bringing home the bacon to small states is inappropriate," she said.

Lieberman and Collins said their effort has nothing to do with small- versus big-state politics.

"Our legislation considerably improves the homeland security state grant process so the entire nation will be better prepared to respond to terrorist attacks," they said in a statement.