Elected officials, community leaders and homeowners gathered in Jackson Heights Friday to condemn the Trump Administration’s decision to cut more than $300 million in federal funding for flood protection and climate resiliency across New York State, including resources to combat flooding in Queens.
State Senators Jessica Ramos and John Liu, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Assembly Member Larinda Hooks, and representatives from the office of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined members of the local community at Ramos’s district office at 74-09 37th Ave. Friday morning to speak out against the FEMA cuts.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump would eliminate FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which provides federal funding to state and local governments to mitigate natural disasters.
Critics of the Trump Administration said the decision will result in more than $325 million in cuts to critical pending projects across New York State and risk about $56 million worth of work that has already begun.
On Friday, elected officials and community leaders said the decision will impact funding for several Queens projects, cutting $46 million from the Kissena Corridor Cloudburst Hub and $47 million from the Corona-East Cloudburst Hub.
Additionally, eliminating BRIC will result in $50 million worth of cuts to the East Elmhurst Cloudburst Flood Mitigation, which aims to mitigate the impact of high-intensity rainfall in a 485-acre area with primarily residential neighborhoods.
The funding cuts would also impact $13 million earmarked to protect the Hunts Point’s food distribution center from flood damage, elected officials said.
Ramos said Friday that families in Queens are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Ida and said the federal government should focus on building resilient coastlines, mitigating future damage, and “preemptively saving lives in frontline climate communities.”
“Instead, we are stuck with the Trump Administration, which is taking a brief break from crashing the global economy to defund FEMA, cutting jobs and infrastructure projects in the process,” Ramos said in a statement. .
Ramos added that it would be more cost-effective to mitigate against potential future damage now rather than rebuild areas impacted by natural disasters.
“Every $1 spent upfront in preventative investments saves us $6 down the line in disaster recovery, so this is not about efficiency.”
Meng described the cuts as a “kick in the gut,” stating that the Trump Administration was “unacceptable and reckless.”
“It will have devastating impacts across Queens as the threat of future flooding in our borough only continues to grow. The Administration needs to reverse course and restore this crucial money,” Meng said.
Liu similarly described the decision as “irresponsible and dangerous” and accused Trump of governing from an “ivory tower with no regard for real-world problems.”
“At this point, every day is a new milestone in absurdity under the Trump regime. Queens still bears the scars of Hurricane Ida when 11 of our residents died, and instead of investing in infrastructure, Trump is removing our ability to protect ourselves from future storms,” Liu said.
Hooks also believes that investing in mitigation measures is the most cost-effective way of protecting Queens and other parts of New York from natural disasters. She added that investing in climate resiliency is also about “protecting lives” of local residents.
“Families in Queens are still living with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. In communities like East Elmhurst—where aging infrastructure and low-lying terrain make flooding a constant threat—our government should be focused on building resilience: upgrading stormwater systems, protecting homes, and investing in the neighborhoods most vulnerable to climate disasters,” Hooks said in a statement.
Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, said in a statement that the BRIC program was developed during Trump’s first term in office under the understanding that every $1 invested in mitigation saves at least $6 in recovery measures.
“With the cancellation of the East Elmhurst Cloudburst project, President Trump is putting our constituents in danger. This is not a partisan issue; disaster mitigation is a basic function of the government,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.
Reverend Patrick H.Young, leader of the First Baptist Church of East Elmhurst, said the cuts would have a “devastating” impact on the local community.
“They (funding cuts) eliminate the possibility of recovery and restoration for communities impacted by future natural disasters. NYC is an island in itself, so we know—with climate change—we will have these disasters happen again,” Young said.
