The Trump administration had moved to scrap the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programme as part of a broader effort to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
A federal judge has ruled that the administration of United States President Donald Trump acted unlawfully when it ended a programme designed to help communities strengthen their resilience to natural disasters.
The Trump administration had moved to scrap the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programme as part of a broader effort to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
But on Thursday, US District Judge Richard Stearns ruled that the administration did not have the authority to terminate the grant programme. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by 20 states, most of them led by Democrats.
Stearns said the administration’s actions amounted to an “unlawful executive encroachment on Congress’s authority to allocate funds for a specific and crucial purpose.”
“The BRIC programme is intended to protect communities from natural disasters and save lives,” Stearns wrote, noting that “the imminence of disasters is not deterred by bureaucratic obstruction.”
Stearns had earlier barred FEMA from redirecting more than $4bn allocated to BRIC for other uses.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, one of the plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling.
“Today’s court order will undoubtedly save lives by preventing the federal government from cutting off funds that help communities prepare for and lessen the impacts of natural disasters,” she said in a statement.
BRIC is FEMA’s largest resilience programme, aimed at reducing disaster-related risks and strengthening communities’ ability to recover quickly.
When Trump began his second term, he initially vowed to eliminate FEMA, placing the agency at the centre of his rejection of climate change science and his promise to cut federal spending.
He has since softened that stance after facing opposition from both Republican and Democratic state officials, saying he now intends to reform the agency rather than abolish it.
In November, acting FEMA administrator David Richardson resigned amid internal criticism over his lack of experience and the agency’s budget cuts.
In an August letter, nearly 200 FEMA employees warned that the cuts could severely worsen the impact of future disasters.
When he assumed the role in May, Richardson had warned that he would “run right over” anyone who resisted changes to the agency.
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