One person uses a garden hose to save a neighboring home from the fire during the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Washington – Congress members of both political parties are calling on the Trump government to hide the financing of a scholarship program that helps the local communities to better prepare for natural disasters.
The Federal Office of the Federal Administrator calls for more than 80 legislators to issue money that has already been approved by the congress for the program for resilient infrastructure and municipal programs.
“The BRIC program was founded by the Congress in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act 2018 and signed by President (Donald) Trump with cross -party support” two -sided letter States. “In the years since then, this program has catalyzed community investments in resistant infrastructures and observed federal funds by investing in the willingness in the community before a disaster.”
Legislators wrote that Bric Grant Funds go to a variety of projects and that the program played an “significant role in supporting tribal nations and rural communities in strengthening their defense against natural disasters and the protection of the critical infrastructure”.
“BRIC can access tribes and rural communities to committed funds to strengthen the resistance of the community by investing in projects with a reduction in danger such as flood protection, fire protection and infrastructure hardship -which are otherwise difficult to finance in rural or remote environments,” wrote the legislature.
While the program “has space for improvements”, the legislators wrote that Fema and congress should work together to “improve the review of the application and financing of the sales process in order to reduce the costs for the disaster, the disasters for our communities, economies and livelihood”.
The Democratic Senator of Maryland, Chris van Hollen, the Republican Senator of North Carolina, Thom Tillis, the Democratic Senator of Washington State, Patty Murray, and the Republican Senator of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, led the letter in her chamber.
Reps. Chuck Edwards, Rn.C.; Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; And Ed Case, D-Hawaii, led the efforts in the house.
“Beyond ruthless”
Fema announced At the beginning of April, it would unilaterally terminate all BRIC financial means approved by the 2020 to 2023 financial years as “wasteful and ineffective”.
“The financing of around 882 million US dollars from the law on infrastructure investments and jobs will be returned to the US Ministry of Finance in the next financial year or divided by the congress,” wrote a Fema spokesman in the declaration. “The law of 2021 has provided 1 billion US dollars for BRIC for over five years. So far, 133 million US dollars have been made available for around 450 applications. Fema estimates that more than 3.6 billion dollars will remain in the disaster relief fund to support the disaster reaction and recovery of communities and survivors.”
The national association of the counties wrote in a post About the cancellation that community executives may “stop working or obtain new sources of financing” and “delay or scaling infrastructure investments”.
“Without access to Bric’s federal game, it may be more difficult to carry out large-scale reduction projects,” said the Naco-Post.
Chad Berginnnis, Executive Director of the Association of State Flood Plain Manager, wrote that the reduction of the “largest program for reduction before discharge is not ruthless”.
“The financing of projects that are already underway will mess states and municipalities and increase the risk of disaster for families and companies instead of reducing them,” wrote Berginnis. “The effects of this decision will be felt in the coming decades.”
