WASHINGTON D.C. – Members of the California Congressional delegation demanded a reversal of the Trump Administration's plans to terminate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program which provides funding for mitigation and resiliency improvements before disasters strike.
The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program was signed into law by President Trump as part of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to fund local projects that reduced the damage from natural disasters nationwide.
According to Friday's letter, the BRIC program invested $5 billion in grants for resiliency projects across the country since its passage.
Every dollar spend through the project is estimated to have saved between $6 and $13 in damages, clean up costs, and economic impact stated the letter.
On April 4 of this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced the termination of the program explaining, "The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters. Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, we are committed to ensuring that Americans in crisis can get the help and resources they need."
California alone stands to lose over $1 billion in disaster mitigation funding if the decision to end the program and cancel all applications is carried through noted the letter from California Congressional members.
Signers of the letter included: Senators Padilla and Schiff as well as Representatives Pete Aguilar (D-CA-33), Nanette Barragán (D-CA-44), Ami Bera (D-CA-06), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Judy Chu (D-CA-28), Gil Cisneros (D-CA-31), Jim Costa (D-CA-21), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), Vince Fong (R-CA-20), Laura Friedman (D-CA-30), John Garamendi (D-CA-08), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Josh Harder (D-CA-09), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), Ro Khana (D-CA-17), Young Kim (R-CA-40), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Sam Liccardo (D-CA-16), Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-18), Dave Min (D-CA-47), Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), Scott Peters (D-CA-50), Luz Rivas (D-CA-29), Linda Sánchez (D-CA-38), Brad Sherman (D-CA-32), Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12), Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14), Mike Thompson (D-CA-04), Norma Torres (D-CA-04), Derek Tran (D-CA-45), and David Valadao (R-CA-22).
The letter included the following questions directed to the recipients, the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency David Richardson:
How many BRIC projects in California would be impacted What the timeline is for terminating the program What level of completion might allow some projects to still receive funding, something that acting Director Richardson floated in a memo about the cancellation of the program Acting Director Richardson also noted a new program will be created by FEMA and the letter asked for details about that new programThe letter concluded, "The BRIC Program allows the State of California and its many communities to shift away from reactive disaster spending and toward research-supported, proactive investment in community resilience. We urge you to immediately reverse this decision and do all you can to support thework of this vital program."
Your News Channel reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for comment and additional information and those responses will be added to this article when they are received.
Bipartisan letter from California Congressional delegation demands reversal of disaster resiliency investment program termination News Channel 3-12.
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