Save BRIC Act

Key Points

• This bill would make federal disaster prevention funding mandatory instead of optional. It changes the word "may" to "shall" in the Stafford Act, meaning the government would be required to fund projects that protect communities before disasters hit.
• The bill targets the BRIC program, which funds a wide range of pre-disaster activities like moving buildings out of flood zones, making structures stronger against hurricanes and earthquakes, and reducing deaths during extreme heat events.
• Congress introduced this bill because over $4 billion in BRIC grants were recently canceled and clawed back from communities that were counting on the money to prepare for future disasters.
• Research cited in the bill shows that every $1 invested in predisaster mitigation saves up to $13 in disaster recovery costs. In 2024 alone, the country experienced 27 weather and climate disasters each causing over $1 billion in damage.
• The BRIC program was originally created by Trump in 2019. The bill frames restoring the program as consistent with that original decision, calling it "prudent from a business and insurance perspective."