The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday opened applications for a key resiliency grant program that the agency eliminated last year, less than three weeks after a federal judge ordered FEMA to make the funding available.
FEMA will provide $1 billion to the Building Infrastructure and Resilient Communities program, which helps states, local governments, territories and tribes implement preparedness projects for natural hazards such as fires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.
Karen S. said: “When done properly, mitigation activities save lives and reduce the cost of future disasters,” Evans, acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement announcing the appeal.
The Trump administration has reduced disaster preparedness funds across several Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs. It has been one year since President Donald Trump approved any state or tribe’s request for hazard mitigation funding, a typical addition to major disaster declarations.
However, a FEMA document outlining the grant opportunity indicates that the administration may now be embracing mitigation aspects of disaster protection, noting that “BRIC aims to shift the focus of federal investments away from reactive post-disaster spending toward proactive, infrastructure-focused mitigation.”
The funding announcement comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), headed by Cameron Hamilton, canceled the BRIC program last April, calling it “wasteful and ineffective.” This decision sparked negative reactions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers as well $3.6 billion was halted For up to multi-year projects to protect infrastructure, communities and homes across the United States
A federal judge last December It ruled that FEMA could not eliminate BRIC The Federal Emergency Management Agency was ordered to reverse course after a coalition of 22 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia He filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration On cancellation. After the agency failed to release the funding, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Stearns told FEMA again this month to take steps toward restoring the program.
Last week, FEMA announced it would resume programmatic support for BRIC awards when the Department of Homeland Security shutdown ends, saying it had finished evaluating the program that was originally signed into law during Trump’s first term. Under former President Joe Biden, the BRIC group became too bureaucratic and “focused on climate change initiatives,” FEMA said in a statement.
States will have 120 days to apply for the new funding opportunity, which covers fiscal years 2024 and 2025, since FEMA eliminated the opportunity last year.
While the resumed funding restores access to much-needed aid in some areas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has imposed new rules in line with the Trump administration’s attempt to… Shift more responsibility for disaster management to states.
The new rules, which include defunding risk mitigation planning and direct non-financial technical assistance, could impact smaller communities with fewer resources and expertise.
“The program now maximizes state and local responsibility for resiliency and risk reduction rather than federal investment in a broad range of activities,” the FEMA statement said.
However, the new grants also include certain limits on the amount any recipient can receive, prioritizing new applicants and “poor communities.” These changes could be a nod to previous criticism that the BRIC program favors coastal states and is difficult for rural areas to access.
Additional changes include prioritizing major infrastructure projects that are “ready for implementation,” according to FEMA, which incentivizes “state-of-the-art hazard-resistant building codes.”
At the same time, it remains unclear how quickly they can expect to resume the grants they have already received.
Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democratic ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that repealing BRIC has hindered construction of a flood wall in his Washington district. “State lag in states’ ability to prepare for disasters was short-sighted, and communities like Aberdeen paid the price,” Larsen said.
In the past decade, there have been nearly as many weather- and climate-related disasters that caused $1 billion or more in damage as there were in the previous 35 years, according to the Climate Central Database.
Multiple studies have shown that preventive investments in disaster preparedness can yield significant savings. Study 2024 A study funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that every dollar invested in disaster preparedness saves $13 in economic impacts, damage, and cleanup costs.
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, lawmakers and disaster survivors have expressed cautious hope The new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullen, was sworn in It could bring more stability to the agency after Kristi Noem’s tumultuous tenure. Mullen He endorsed FEMA’s mission at his Senate confirmation hearing last week He said he supports efforts to make FEMA more effective, speed up payments to state and local jurisdictions and better serve rural communities.