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... As the Trump administration weighs the future of the federal agency tasked with responding to disasters, it is ending a key program that has been used by communities across the country to pay for projects designed to help them prepare for natural disasters like flooding and fires.

In a news release Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, calling the move part of efforts to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse."

"The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters," the agency said in a statement.

In addition to ending the program going forward, FEMA said it was also cancelling all applications to the program from 2020 to 2023 and that money that was awarded as part of grants but not already distributed would be immediately returned to the federal government. ...