Press Release: 12/11/2025

AG Campbell Secures Court Victory Preventing Trump Administration From Unlawfully Cutting Billions In Disaster Preparedness Funding

 

Court Order Prevents Trump Administration from Illegally Shutting Down the FEMA BRIC Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

12/11/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary

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Call Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

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Email Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at Sydney.Heiberger@mass.gov

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell and a coalition of 20 states today won their lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, designed to protect communities from natural disasters before they strike.  

For the past 30 years, the BRIC program has provided communities across the nation with resources to proactively fortify their infrastructure against natural disasters. By focusing on mitigation, the program protects lives, communities, and property — supporting state, tribal, and local governments to prevent the harms of disasters, rather than just recovering from them.  

“Today's court order will undoubtedly save lives by preventing the federal government from terminating funding that helps communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of natural disasters,” said AG Campbell. “This decision sends a clear message that the Trump Administration must not abandon state and local communities, and I won’t stop fighting to protect our residents from the federal government’s abuses of power.” 

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law mandating that FEMA must protect communities through four interrelated functions – mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery. The BRIC program is the core of FEMA’s mitigation efforts. BRIC projects are required to be cost-effective, and a recent study concluded that every dollar FEMA spends on mitigation saves an average of six dollars in post-disaster costs.  

The BRIC program supports often difficult-to-fund projects, such as constructing evacuation shelters and flood walls, safeguarding utility grids against wildfires, protecting wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, and fortifying bridges, roadways, and culverts.  

Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding nationwide. In Massachusetts, BRIC funding is used for planning and implementing climate proofing for vulnerable Boston neighborhoods, bridge upgrades in Manchester-by-the-Sea, flood protection efforts for the Blue Line tunnel connecting Logan Airport to Boston, flood and drought protection in Clarksburg, a coastal flood resilience project in Chelsea and Everett, and critical local hazard mitigation planning for communities across the state, among other essential projects.  

Today’s court decision affirms the coalition’s position that FEMA’s decision to abruptly terminate the BRIC program constitutes a substantial and unlawful reduction in one of FEMA’s core functions and is in direct violation of Congress’s decision to fund it. The Executive Branch has no lawful authority to unilaterally refuse to spend funds appropriated by Congress. The judge also concluded that FEMA’s actions violate Separation of Powers, the Appropriations and Spending Clauses, and the Administrative Procedure Act. 

Joining AG Campbell in filing this lawsuit, which she co-led with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and the governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.