FEMA halts grant program that spent billions on disaster protection
Source: E&E News by Politico (April 4, 2025)
Significance: As of April 2025, the cancellation of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program threatens Vermont’s ability to fund critical flood mitigation projects, putting communities at greater risk as extreme weather events become more frequent. Ongoing and future infrastructure upgrades may be delayed or abandoned, increasing the financial burden on local governments and weakening the state’s climate resilience. This move could lead to greater flood damage, economic disruption, and longer recovery times in vulnerable areas.
Description: The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program, which had provided billions in funding to help communities prepare for natural disasters, has been cancelled as of April 2025. FEMA will no longer allocate the planned $750 million for BRIC this year and will halt funding for ongoing projects that were previously approved. FEMA officials called the program wasteful, criticizing its focus on climate change rather than immediate disaster relief. The move drew strong backlash from emergency management professionals, who called the cancellation "devastating" and warned it would cripple in-progress projects. Since its inception in 2020, BRIC had awarded $5 billion in grants and was widely praised for improving community resilience to climate impacts. The program, funded under the Biden administration with increased allocations, prioritized disadvantaged communities and climate-related risk reduction. However, it became a political target under Trump for its emphasis on equity and environmental issues. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has suggested eliminating FEMA altogether, further raising concerns. FEMA’s acting head, Cameron Hamilton, justified the cancellation by claiming BRIC had not significantly boosted hazard mitigation and could interfere with local planning. The administration is now reviewing all FEMA grants to align them with Trump’s new directive shifting responsibility to state and local governments.
