The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Friday announced it would redirect $895 million from a woke infrastructure program to aid disaster relief, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans effected 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,” a FEMA spokesperson told Breitbart News in a written statement.
FEMA, under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceled all applications from fiscal years 2020-2023. All grant funds not distributed to states, tribes, territories, and local communities will be returned to either the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury.
The BRIC program was created as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, otherwise known as the so-called infrastructure bill, which is known to have many leftist carveouts.
The 2021 BRIC program focused on, among other things, grants to “emphasize equity considerations through further assessment of vulnerable communities, a broadened range of stakeholder input and more varied partnerships.”
BRIC’s priorities for fiscal year 2022, under the Biden administration, were to “incentivize“:
- natural hazard risk reduction activities that mitigate risk to public infrastructure and “disadvantaged communities”
- projects that incorporate nature-based solutions, which includes, among other proposals, “creating economic growth through green jobs and increased property values”
- projects that enhance climate resilience and adaptation
- adoption and enforcement of the latest
The so-called infrastructure bill allocated $1 billion for BRIC over five years, $134 million was spent for roughly 450 applications, and FEMA believes more than $2.5 billion will remain in the Disaster Relief Fund to assist with disaster response and recovery for communities.
The program’s ending would work to align with President Donald Trump’s executive orders to and Secretary Noem’s directives to better support states and local communities with disaster planning and response.
While the Biden administration spent money on efforts that hoped to ensure equity in its infrastructure projects, the Trump administration and Secretary Noem have focused on combatting illegal immigration and ensuring national security.
Noem recently toured a prison in El Salvador where hundreds of deported alleged gang members associated with Tren de Aragua (TdA) and MS-13 are held.
FEMA, under Noem, terminated four employees who circumvented leadership to make payments for migrant housing in a New York hotel.
In March, Noem has discussed how FEMA is a “bureaucracy that’s picking and choosing winners”:
Noem said, “I would say, yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today, we still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters, like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California but you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed, so it can be deployed much quicker. And we don’t need this bureaucracy that’s picking and choosing winners.”
Trump in January criticized FEMA for complicating “everything,” suggesting the agency has not focused on its core mission.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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