Oregon officials address federal funding delays for Astoria hospital
U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield say they are still fighting to land federal money for a major hospital expansion project in Astoria.
At a press event with other officials at the Columbia Memorial Hospital construction site Wednesday, Bonamici said the Trump administration is “playing games with people’s lives” by delaying the release of the money.
The hospital is in the middle of a $300 million expansion project. It was awarded a $14 million grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, program in 2023. The grant was meant to fund various components of a new building to make it resilient in the face of major disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.
FEMA abruptly canceled the BRIC program in early 2025. Following legal pushback from Oregon and other states, FEMA resumed funding the program, but Columbia Memorial Hospital is still waiting to receive its $14 million.
Hospita…