Scranton is still waiting to learn if it will receive millions of dollars in flood-mitigation funding from a program cut by the Trump Administration and later reinstated.
The city's concerns about the status of federal BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) grants come as congressional Democrats and Republicans remain locked in a stalemate over immigration enforcement reforms.
City officials applied for the grants after deadly flash flooding hit the region in September 2023.
"We've tried to get in touch with FEMA," Mayor Paige Cognetti said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, ran out in February. The Senate passed a spending plan for the agency but the House has yet to vote.
"They are shut down, so there is not a lot of information there. I certainly hope that things are back on track after an unnecessary year, additional year, of waiting for these families to get back to their lives and rebuild their financial futures," Cognetti said. "We will keep pushing."
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Luzerne, shares her concerns.
"We have been very vocal to the administration, to FEMA, that BRIC funding has significant impacts to Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district,” he said.
Cognetti are running against each other in the election this year to represent the 8th Congressional District.
The flooding aftermath
The 2023 flooding damaged private property and public infrastructure throughout the region, including North Scranton and the city’s Keyser Valley.
Scranton originally applied for $2.7 million to acquire and demolish 18 properties and three vacant lots, which were hardest hit. The city also asked for $75,001 to update how building codes relate to flooding and other hazardous events.
FEMA told Scranton it would receive the money, but it could take 18 months.
"Then we saw in April of 2025 that the Trump administration cut the BRIC program,” Cognetti said.
Twenty-two states, including Pennsylvania, sued the administration and won to reinstate the BRIC program. FEMA announced March 25 it would fund BRIC again.
If or when the city will receive the money remains up in the air.
Bresnahan seeks answers on funding
Bresnahan said he called FEMA to figure out if communities like Scranton need to reapply for already promised funding, but still hasn't received an answer.
Bresnahan said FEMA is still determining who its new director will be after Markwayne Miller replaced Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary.
"What's not fair is Northeastern Pennsylvania communities are being swept up in higher level administration changes,” he said.
He opposed cutting BRIC in the first place.
After the program was canceled, Bresnahan sent a letter to Cameron Hamilton, then-acting FEMA administrator, voicing his opposition. In May, he and U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Democrat from Arizona, introduced the Save BRIC Act to protect the program from elimination.
Hamilton was replaced by David Richardson, who Bresnahan said he spoke with.
"He had made some suggestions about perhaps the BRIC funding wasn’t being used as prudently as it should have been,” the congressman said.
Bresnahan then looked at what communities in Northeast Pennsylvania needed funding for.
"I don't know what specificity of projects he was relating to, but I looked at the projects in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and these were the example of prudent utilization of taxpayer-funded money ... I advocated for what Northeastern Pennsylvania deserved," he said.
Protecting the future
In Scranton, Cognetti said after the properties are demolished the city plans to put in stormwater collection infrastructure or recreation areas, like a soccer field.
"It's not about just the families and making sure that they get whole. It's also about protecting our first responders and not sending them in harm's way unnecessarily,” she said.
If communities aren’t able to make necessary infrastructure investments, there’s a snowball effect of implications, Bresnahan said.
"There's over a trillion dollars of property that are protected by levies in the United States,” he said.
He said local municipalities don’t have millions of dollars to respond to extreme weather.
"There is a responsibility of the federal government to provide the necessary investment into critical infrastructure systems,” he said.
In July 2024, Scranton was selected as one of 656 total projects for the 2023 BRIC grant cycle. The program was created by FEMA during President Donald Trump’s first administration to provide investments to help communities better prepare for natural disasters, according to the city.
"It's been very frustrating to have this extra year in the middle that was so unnecessary,” Cognetti said.
"If we have to do it with local tax dollars, we will do everything we can to make it work," Cognetti said. "But if there are federal dollars available, then that's the most responsible thing for the taxpayers of Scranton."
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) will highlight the Disaster Recovery Assistance Program (DRAP) Friday at 11 a.m. at the football field adjacent to 2310 Jackson St., in Scranton.
The program helps individuals and families without other means of support get back on their feet after a disaster, according to the state. It is expanding in 2026 to supplement county and municipal resources with restoring public infrastructure to pre-disaster condition, removing debris and taking emergency protective measures that are not covered by insurance or another funding source.
DRAP provided over $42,000 in grants to seven Lackawanna and Wyoming county households after the September 2023 flood.
