A coalition of attorneys general sued the Trump administration Tuesday for terminating a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program that helps local and state governments prepare for natural disasters. It was the 32nd lawsuit filed by the group since January.
In their complaint, 20 states asked a federal district court to reverse the administration’s termination of the program that has provided billions of dollars for infrastructure improvements to mitigate disasters’ effects.
“Nearly 30 years ago, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress recognized a simple fact: preparing for disasters, instead of just reacting to them, saves money and lives,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.
For each dollar spent on mitigation, $6 is saved in post-disaster costs, the attorneys general contended. They said the program FEMA cut this year has helped avoid over $150 billion in costs and saved lives throughout the U.S.
Bonta said the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government have instead jeopardized public safety.
Filed in a U.S. district court in Massachusetts, the lawsuit names FEMA, FEMA Administrator David Richardson, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the United States as Defendants. The suit comes one day after heavy rainfall in New York City inundated subway stations and almost two weeks after flash floods in Texas killed at least 134 people.
“The administration’s decision to slash billions of dollars that protect our communities from floods, wildfires and other disasters puts millions of New Yorkers at risk,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
“New Yorkers depend on quality roads, floodwalls and other vital infrastructure to keep them safe when disaster strikes. This administration has no authority to cut this program that has helped save countless lives,” James said.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin filed the lawsuit.
The states argue that Cameron Hamilton unlawfully shut down the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, grant program in April after Trump appointed him as acting administrator of the agency. They allege that Hamilton and his successor David Richardson lacked the qualifications to run the agency as required by the U.S. Constitution and that termination of BRIC also violated the Constitution by usurping Congress’s power of the purse.
The lawsuit seeks to reverse FEMA’s decision to shutter the program and prevent the Trump administration from reallocating BRIC funds. The states contend FEMA diverted $4 billion from the BRIC program for natural disaster preparedness and reallocated the money for post-disaster grants.
“This abrupt termination has jeopardized critical projects throughout the country,” James said. “Communities have been forced to delay, scale back or cancel hundreds of projects that depend on BRIC funding — projects that have been in development for years and in which communities have already spent millions of dollars for planning, permitting and environment are now threatened.”
A FEMA spokesperson told Spectrum News, “Resiliency is a priority for DHS, but over the last four years the Biden Administration used the BRIC program as a piggy bank for its green new deal agenda. We will make sure we do right by the taxpayers by bringing integrity to all our spending. If these States take issue with that, we will see them in court.”
This story has been updated to include comment from a FEMA spokesperson.