Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing to block cuts to a Federal Emergency Management Agency program designed to reinforce systems to protect communities from natural disasters.
Nessel is part of a 20-state lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general to protect the congressionally approved Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities – or BRIC -- program. Michigan is in line for 29 million dollars in BRIC grants for stormwater and flood protection, severe weather shelters and enforcing building standards that focus on disaster resilience.
Nessel says if that funding is cut, the resilience projects would be cancelled without new funding sources. Many of them have been in development for years and have already cost millions of dollars.
The lawsuit says plans to unilaterally cut FEMA violate Congress’s constitutional budget power and a federal law that guards against brash executive actions.
We have reached out to the White House for comment
