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a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered on thursday trump Administration canceled recovery of billions of dollars FEMA Disaster Mitigation Fund, a party of 22 states and District of Columbia Who filed a lawsuit this summer over the canceled grant.
President Donald Trump’s administration said in April it was “terminating” the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which helped communities with pre-disaster projects to strengthen infrastructure and improve resilience against the growing threats of climate change.
The administration called the program “inadequate and ineffective” and said it would withhold $3.6 billion in funds awarded but not yet paid and $882 million in grants for the next fiscal year.
The program’s disruption affected projects in hundreds of communities in both Republican- and Democratic-led states, derailing plans to improve storm drainage, harden power lines and even help relocate families living in areas most vulnerable to disasters.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Associated Press on Thursday that DHS “has not terminated BRIC,” but did not elaborate on the status of the program.
“The Biden administration abandoned true mitigation and used BRIC as a Green New Deal slush fund,” the spokesperson said, referring to a Democratic plan to tackle climate change. “It’s unfortunate that an activist judge either didn’t understand this or didn’t care.”
The order comes at a time of deep uncertainty over FEMA’s future and on the same day that a long-awaited meeting of the FEMA Review Council to present a report recommending reforms to the agency was abruptly canceled by the White House because it was not fully briefed on the latest version of the report, according to a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Congress created the BRIC program during the first Trump administration through the 2018 Disaster Recovery Improvement Act. According to FEMA, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made $1 billion available over five years for BRIC, although only $133 million had been distributed to communities as of April.
The program has been criticized by some as being difficult for rural and less wealthy communities to access due to the complex application process and cost-sharing requirements. But also Republican lawmakers like Senators. bill cassidy Louisiana protested the cancellation and called for the reinstatement of BRIC.
“This protects families and saves taxpayer dollars in the long run,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor a week after the funding was canceled. “It works in my book.”
Judge Richard G. Stearns found that FEMA’s actions were unlawful because Congress had specifically appropriated the funds for the grants and “there was an underlying public interest in ensuring that the government followed the law.”
“The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives,” Stearns wrote in the court order.
The Trump administration has cut disaster preparedness dollars in several FEMA programs this year as part of its campaign to shift more responsibility for disasters to states.
Since February, Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation funding, a specific add-on that helps states, tribes and territories complete resiliency projects after major disasters.
Emergency preparedness grants, on which state and local governments rely to staff emergency management agencies and purchase equipment, are currently on hold after 12 states sued the Trump administration over unprecedented grant terms related to the administration’s immigration agenda.
Several studies have shown that preemptive investment in disaster preparedness can lead to significant savings. A 2024 study funded by the US Chamber of Commerce found that every $1 invested in disaster preparedness saved $13 in economic impact, damage, and cleanup costs.