By Forum Staff
After President Donald Trump canceled the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program, including over $300 million in federal funding headed to New York, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer on Tuesday demanded FEMA reverse this decision which will rip resources away from New York State’s disaster preparedness efforts.
The senator said as New York has faced more extreme weather than ever, FEMA has played a critical role in helping communities rebuild and cutting off this lifeline with hurt New York families, businesses, and more in every corner of the state.
“New Yorkers are no strangers to natural disasters and FEMA’s BRIC program was one of the best tools for helping communities big and small rebuild to keep communities safe in the face of flooding, snowstorms and more. By ripping away over $300 million in funding for projects with no warning or explanation, imperiling them from moving forward, FEMA is going against its mission and putting the lives and safety of New Yorkers during the next emergency at risk,” Schumer said. “When communities are hit by disaster, when roads are flooded, downtowns destroyed, or worse – it is FEMA that is supposed to come to help them rebuild. We cannot leave New York’s families, businesses, and neighborhoods fending for themselves by cutting off this vital lifeline. I’m demanding FEMA immediately reverse these cuts and restore BRIC to keep New Yorkers safe.”
FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities in 2020 and was previously signed into law by President Trump during his first administration. BRIC allocates resources to state and local governments to help mitigate damage from natural disasters, such as raising roads or building underground storage which will help make communities more resilient to extreme weather such as hurricanes or floods. When announcing that it would end the program, FEMA labeled BRIC as an “ineffective FEMA program” and said eliminating it was part of the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.”
In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Schumer explained that BRIC provides a lifeline for New York and other states that have been facing more extreme weather as they prepare for the next storm. For example, last year New York State set a record for most tornadoes in a year since they were first recorded in 1950 and experienced an earthquake that was felt throughout the state. Schumer said BRIC has and should continue to play a critical role in supporting New York’s infrastructure improvements and mitigating damage caused by extreme weather and natural disasters and called on the Trump administration to reverse these cuts and maintain BRIC.
Schumer said canceled projects are in every corner of New York State, including New York City, Westchester, the Capital Region, and Buffalo. For example, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul, $100 million was cut off for two flood mitigation projects in Central Harlem and East Elmhurst, $24 million was cut off for the New York Power Authority to reduce the formation of ice jams in the Capital Region, and over $700,000 was cut off for the removal of a dangerous dam in Westchester.
