17 July 2025, AllSides: 20 States Sue Trump Admin Over Termination of FEMA’s BRIC Program. A coalition of 20 states has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to terminate FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a grant program aimed at protecting communities from natural disasters. The Details: The lawsuit alleges that FEMA unlawfully terminated the BRIC program without congressional approval. It claims the termination puts lives at risk by making it harder for communities to protect themselves against future extreme weather events. The states involved in the lawsuit are 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. For Context: The BRIC program, established in 2018, replaced a similar FEMA initiative known as the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program. It has funded nearly 2,000 projects with approximately $4.5 billion, saving taxpayers more than $150 billion that would have been spent on rebuilding property damaged or destroyed by disasters. FEMA announced the termination of the BRIC program in April as part of efforts to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Read more here