FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC): Recent Developments

FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC): Recent Developments

FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC): Recent Developments

September 17, 2025 (IN12609)

On April 4, 2025, a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) press release indicated that FEMA would be ending a pre-disaster mitigation grant program known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), generating substantial interest from policymakers and the public. This Insight provides an overview of the BRIC program and a brief summary of developments related to BRIC.

Overview of BRIC

Pre-disaster mitigation funding is authorized in Section 203 of the Stafford Act. Funding for pre-disaster mitigation changed significantly in the first Trump Administration with the passage of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA); for each major disaster declaration, the President may set aside from the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) an amount equal to 6% of the estimated aggregate amount of funding awarded under seven sections of the Stafford Act. The large amount of assistance associated with the COVID-19 major disaster declarations resulted in significant funding to this set-aside. In 2020, FEMA introduced a new program, BRIC, to award the funding set aside under DRRA. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) appropriated an additional $1 billion for BRIC, adding $200 million for each of FY2022 through FY2026, in addition to the 6% set-aside.

Any state, territory, or tribe (STT) that had a major disaster declaration in the seven years prior to the application start date was eligible to apply for BRIC funding, with all STTs eligible at least through FY2026 due to the COVID-19 major disaster declarations. BRIC funding was available FY2020-FY2023.

Since its creation, BRIC was the largest competitively-awarded pre-disaster mitigation funding source in the country, making over $4.6 billion available (see Error! Reference source not found.) to reduce to reduce future damage before a natural disaster occurs.

Table 1. National BRIC Obligations as of August 29, 2025

Fiscal Year

Number of Applications Selected for Funding

Number and Percentage of Applications Obligated

Amount Available in NOFO

Amount Requested and Percentage Over-Subscribed

Amount Selected for Funding

Amount Obligated and Percentage of Amount Selected

FY2020

380

354 (93.2%)

$500 million

$3.1 billion (620%)

$487.4 million

$250.7 million (51.4%)

FY2021

350

327 (93.4%)

$1 billion

$3.5 billion (350%)

$987.2 million

$364 million (35.9%)

FY2022

496

377 (76.0%)

$2.295 billion

$3.6 billion (157%)

$2.2 billion

$359.4 million (16.3%)

FY2023

717

186 (25.9%)

$1 billion

$5.4 billion (540%)

$990.6 million

$38.7 million (3.9%)

FY2020-2024 Total

1,943

1,244 (64.0%)

$4.795 billion

$15.665 billion (325%)

$4.665 billion

$1billion (21.5%)

Source: Calculated by CRS from BRIC Obligations Dashboard summary page and BRIC Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). Percentages were calculated by CRS rather than using percentages in the Dashboard.

Note: It is not possible to tell which projects have started construction.

BRIC Developments in 2025

On January 6, 2025, FEMA issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for BRIC FY2024 with $750 million available. The NOFO was retracted in mid-February.

On April 4, 2025, FEMA issued a press release indicating it was ending the BRIC program, stating that "approximately $882 million of funding appropriated by Congress in the IIJA will be returned to the Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the next fiscal year. If grant funds have not been distributed to states, territories, or tribes, funds will immediately be returned to the DRF or Treasury."

FEMA issued an advisory update on April 16 saying that the BRIC FY2024 NOFO was cancelled and that FEMA will cancel all of the BRIC projects across fiscal years 2020 to 2023 if funds have not been distributed to SLTs, with these guidelines for obligated projects:

"Recipients will be able to complete fully obligated projects that have started construction and will be able to expend all associated funds. FEMA will also obligate management costs associated with partially or fully obligated projects.

Fully obligated projects that have not started construction will not be approved and will end.

For phased projects, FEMA will work with applicants on already obligated projects to determine the best path forward, which may include ending the project after the completion of Phase 1 or at another appropriate stopping point."

FEMA's testimony in a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee on May 7, 2025 stated that FEMA had made available within the DRF funds that were previously set aside for BRIC. The most recent DRF monthly report shows that the balance for pre-disaster mitigation was $4.864 billion on March 31, 2025 and $784 million on July 31, 2025.

There is a factual dispute about whether the cancellation has actually taken place. In mid-July, 19 state Attorneys General and one Governor filed a lawsuit against FEMA. On July 25, 2025, the declaration of David Richardson, Senior Official Performing the Duties of (SOPDO) the Administrator of FEMA, stated that "FEMA has not ended the BRIC progra m, contrary to publicity otherwise." On the same day, the Justice Department's Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion stated that "despite Plaintiffs' allegations to the contrary, Defendants have not terminated BRIC, … [or] terminated any grant awards, … [nor] repurposed funds for BRIC or PDM programs."

On August 5, 2025, a judge granted the motion for a preliminary injunction, "enjoin[ing] [the government] from spending the funds allocated to BRIC for non-BRIC purposes until the court is able to render a final judgment on the merits."

On September 3, 2025, 19 state Attorneys General and two Governors filed an amended complaint.

Responses to Developments

Many Members of Congress and stakeholders have requested that FEMA reinstate BRIC. The Save BRIC Act, introduced April 14, 2025, would require the President to provide assistance for pre-disaster mitigation. Some House appropriators expressed disappointment that FEMA unilaterally decided to cancel BRIC rather than implementing reforms, and adopted an amendment to their FY2026 Homeland Security bill that would turn BRIC into a mandatory program and place new guardrails on the kinds of projects eligible to receive BRIC grants. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted in a decision published September 15, 2025, that it will issue other decisions on FEMA appropriations, including amounts appropriated and set aside for BRIC.