Biden Moves Forward With Smaller Infrastructure Initiatives
A beefed-up Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program is just one example
Even as he's continuing to advance his once-in-a-generation American Jobs Plan, President Biden has his eye on what he can do to improve US infrastructure in the meantime.
Negotiations continued this week on advancing Biden's big signature infrastructure-and-jobs program towards approval, which Biden himself cut back to about $1.7 trillion in an effort to win Republican support.
But that doesn't mean that the president's just going to wait.
He's already moving forward to make investments that he can in key areas of US infrastructure — especially those areas which will better prepare the nation for the future.
One example of that is the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which is intended to help states and local communities develop projects that prepare for and reduce risk from extreme weather events and other disasters.
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) is based on a relatively modest federal investment of $1 billion.
BRIC supports states, local communities, tribes, and territories in undertaking pre-disaster hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards.
Biden's level of funding level is double the amount provided last year. The program seeks to categorically shift the federal focus from reactive disaster spending and toward research-supported, proactive investment in community resilience so that when the next hurricane, flood, or wildfire comes, communities are better prepared, according to a White House announcement.
The White House approach has not gone unnoticed on Capitol Hill, where the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security expressed tremendous support for Biden's efforts.
“This is great news. As climate change worsens, the pace of natural disasters will only increase. As Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, I’ll be working to ensure the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program works for Connecticut and other states have enough resources to prepare and mitigate risks,” said Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn).