TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jul 18, 2025

A group of 20 states filed suit Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration from terminating a grant program that funds infrastructure upgrades to protect against natural disasters. According to Reuters, the suit claims the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lacks authority to cancel the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program since it has been approved and funded by Congress. The program, created in 2018 as an upgrade of existing grant programs, covers up to 75% of the costs of infrastructure projects — or 90% in rural areas — meant to protect communities from natural disasters. The funding has been used for evacuation shelters, flood walls and improvements to roads and bridges, among other projects. When FEMA announced termination of the program in April, it said it had become wasteful and ineffective. A bipartisan group of lawmakers in May urged FEMA to restore the funds and work with Congress to make the program more efficient.