Fund FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure & Communities (BRIC) program

Research shows that mitigation efforts can go a long way in protecting communities before disasters strike and saving lives when they do hit. And they save money, too. Every dollar invested in hazard mitigation can generate between $6 and $13 in future benefits. Congress created BRIC in the bipartisan Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, which Trump signed in his first administration. Before Trump shut it down, BRIC had a national portfolio, poised to fund everything from tornado safe-rooms to earthquake detection systems to shoreline upgrades—most of which were designed to protect critical infrastructure like electricity and clean drinking water. But in April, FEMA stopped taking applications for 2024 BRIC grants and started canceling projects that were already on the books from 2020 to 2023—more than $4 billion in funding authorized by Congress. The impact of the shutdown has been devastating. Communities across the country are being forced to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects depending on this funding. Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars for planning, permitting, and environmental review, are now threatened. And in the meantime, Americans across the country face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters. Protect and Fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program