Trump administration ends key grant programme that helps communities prepare for disasters

The cuts come as the future of FEMA itself is in question
| Photo Credit:
JONATHAN DRAKE

As the Trump administration weighs the future of the federal agency tasked with responding to disasters, it is ending a key programme that has been used by communities across the country to pay for projects designed to help them prepare for natural disasters like flooding and fires.

In a news release Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, calling the move part of efforts to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” “The BRIC programme was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters,” the agency said in a statement.

In addition to ending the programme going forward, FEMA said it was also cancelling all applications to the programme from 2020 to 2023 and that money that was awarded as part of grants but not already distributed would be immediately returned to the federal government.

The program was started under the first Trump administration and then expanded under the Biden administration.

About $1 billion had been allocated to the programme as part of the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021. According to FEMA, about $133 million has already been handed out to about 450 applicants across the country.

Communities across the country have used programme funds to help their cities and towns mitigate disasters, such as raising roads to keep them out of floodwaters or building underground storage units to prepare for droughts.

The announcement didn’t detail what exactly the agency found to be “wasteful,” but the Trump administration has targeted programs or funding across the federal government that goes to address climate change or that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

Under the Biden administration, the BRIC programme was a key part of the government’s efforts to address climate change and while grants were awarded to a wide range of communities across the country, there was a special emphasis on helping historically underserved communities.

The cuts come as the future of FEMA itself is in question. President Donald Trump has questioned whether to disband it entirely and give money directly to states to handle disasters. Trump has created a council to study what to do with FEMA and whether to get rid of it.