FEMA to Halt Billions in Grants for Disaster Protection, Internal Memo Says
An internal FEMA memo says the agency is canceling future and existing grants that help states and tribes prepare for floods, tornadoes and other disasters
Parishioners and community members look over damage after a tornado struck the Christ Community Church on April 3, 2025 in Paducah, Kentucky. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued a state of emergency ahead of the storms that are expected to cause flash flooding and tornadoes across Kentucky.
Michael Swensen/Getty Images
CLIMATEWIRE | The Trump administration is canceling a popular grant program that has given states and communities billions of dollars to protect against natural disasters, according to an internal document obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
Federal Emergency Management Agency acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton wrote in a memo Thursday that the agency will not allocate the $750 million that was planned this year for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants. The BRIC program funds local projects that reduce damage from flooding, tornadoes and other weather-related events.
FEMA also will stop funding projects that were previously approved for BRIC grants and are still underway, Hamilton wrote.
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The cancellation is the Trump administration’s latest blow to FEMA, which provides tens of billions of dollars a year in disaster aid and grants. The administration has also frozen $10 billion in disaster aid for nonprofits, including hospitals, as it scrutinizes FEMA programs for potentially helping undocumented migrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has floated shrinking or dissolving the agency, saying in March, “We’re going to eliminate FEMA.”
Although the agency has faced criticism — notably from President Donald Trump — for its response to major disasters, BRIC drew wide praise as an effort to make communities better able to withstand natural disasters and climate impacts.
BRIC has distributed $5 billion in grants since it began in 2020 during the first Trump administration, FEMA records show. The grants typically pay 75 percent of a project’s cost and have given some projects as much as $50 million.
The program was so popular that FEMA had to reject nearly 2,000 applicants seeking $13 billion in BRIC grants. The agency itself touts BRIC for helping states, localities and native tribes “reduce their hazard risk” and “build capacity and capability.”
But Hamilton wrote Thursday that “BRIC grants have not increased the level of hazard mitigation as much as desired, and may supplant state, local, tribal and territorial capital investment planning.”
“With that in mind, I am providing new direction for the BRIC Program,” Hamilton added in his two-page memo.
Former senior FEMA officials expressed concern over the decision to stop releasing previously approved BRIC grant money.
“All of those things that were selected but had not begun will get canceled,” said one former senior official who asked not to be named to avoid alienating FEMA. The cancellation could apply to entire projects or to the second half of a project that is halfway completed.
“That will crush projects that are underway,” a second former senior FEMA official said.
Although BRIC is supported by Congress and coveted by states, the program has become a target of the Trump administration because of its focus during the Biden administration on addressing climate change and promoting equity.
In February, the Trump administration removed a funding notice posted in the final days of the Biden administration inviting states to apply for $750 million in BRIC grants. It was unclear at the time whether the Trump administration intended to cancel the program or to rewrite the notice to remove priority for disadvantaged communities and references to climate change.
President Joe Biden ordered the program to address climate change and spend 40 percent of its grant money on projects that help communities with high rates of poverty, unemployment and environmental exposure. Congress sharply increased the annual BRIC allocations under Biden’s presidency.
In his memo, Hamilton said FEMA is “evaluating all existing grants and their priorities, scope, and implementation timelines.” The evaluation aims to ensure FEMA grants align with a March 19 executive order from Trump aimed at shifting disaster preparedness to state and local governments.
“Further, FEMA is working to identify how grants can accomplish the new priorities most effectively and efficiently,” Hamilton added.
BRIC is the largest of several FEMA grant programs that are awarded through a national competition.
Another FEMA grant program that pays for flood-protection projects also is under review, although Hamilton’s memo does not mention the program.
When the administration removed the BRIC funding notice, it also removed a notice announcing $600 million in grants through FEMA’s long-standing Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
