Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration for Unlawfully Cutting Billions in Disaster Mitigation Funding

Press Releases

07/16/2025

Attorney General Tong Sues Trump Administration for Unlawfully Cutting Billions in Disaster Mitigation Funding

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 20 states in suing the Trump Administration over its decision to illegally 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 preparation, the program has protected property, saved money that would have otherwise been spent on post-disaster costs, reduced injuries, and saved lives.

“The Trump Administration is turning its back on the most fundamental responsibility of government—to keep us safe, and to be there to help when the worst happens. Refusing to prepare for natural disasters will not stop nature and will not save money. Communities across Connecticut are expecting and relying on tens of millions of dollars in promised FEMA funds to protect lives, homes and infrastructure from severe flooding and storm surges. Donald Trump cannot unilaterally seize our funds to funnel favors and tax breaks to his favorite billionaires. We’re suing, and we’re doing everything we can to stop him,” said Attorney General Tong.

“The Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the FEMA BRIC program threatens the safety and resilience of communities like Stamford,” said Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons, who joined Attorney General Tong in Stamford as he announced today's lawsuit. “This funding is critical for infrastructure projects, like our seawall improvements, which protect our wastewater treatment facility, Transfer Station, and surrounding neighborhoods from coastal flooding. I’m grateful to Attorney General Tong for standing up to this harmful decision and working to restore the funding municipalities depend on to ensure our infrastructure is resilient and prepared for the impacts of climate change.”

Responding to the catastrophic losses resulting from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Congress passed a law stating FEMA must protect communities through four interrelated functions—mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery. The BRIC program is the core of FEMA’s pre-disaster mitigation efforts. 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.

The impact of the BRIC program’s termination has been devastating, with communities across the country being forced to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects depending on this funding. Projects that have been in development for years, and in which communities have invested millions of dollars are now threatened. And now, Americans from coast to coast face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters.

Over the past four years, FEMA has selected nearly 2,000 projects to receive roughly $4.5 billion in BRIC funding nationwide. Connecticut has received tens of millions of dollars in FEMA-BRIC funding since 2020 alone to address flooding risks and storm surge hazards, and more. The cancellation of the BRIC program imperils not just the funding that had been awarded and now cancelled, but future awards that Connecticut would have expected to receive. Total cancelled funds in Connecticut are estimated to exceed $84 million, including $42 million for the Resilient Bridgeport Coastal Flood Defense System to address recurrent flooding and coastal storm surges affecting the city of Bridgeport’s South End, which has been repeatedly impacted by major storm events. Also cancelled includes $900,000 in funds for the ongoing City of Stamford Seawall Improvement Project. The existing seawall is operating beyond its useful life and threatens wastewater infrastructure, properties and lives. Also impacted is $25 million for the ongoing New Haven Inland and Coastal Resiliency Project to address flooding, among other critical efforts.

Attorney General Tong and the coalition argue that FEMA’s decision to abruptly terminate the BRIC program 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. They also assert that shutting down the BRIC program violates Separation of Powers and the Administrative Procedures Act, and violates the Appointments Clause because Cameron Hamilton, who acted as FEMA Administrator and gave the directive to terminate the BRIC program, was never appointed by the President or confirmed by the Senate and therefore was acting as Administrator unlawfully.

With this lawsuit, Attorney General Tong and the coalition are seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the Trump Administration from spending BRIC funds on other purposes and a permanent injunction to reverse the termination of the BRIC program and require the restoration of these critical funds to the communities relying on them.

Joining Attorney General Tong in filing this lawsuit are attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Click here to view the complaint.

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