[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1376 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1376
Marking the 5-year anniversary of the devastation of Puerto Rico and
the United States Virgin Islands by Hurricane Maria.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 20, 2022
Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Garcia of
Illinois, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. Soto, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs.
Demings, Ms. Adams, and Mr. Espaillat) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Marking the 5-year anniversary of the devastation of Puerto Rico and
the United States Virgin Islands by Hurricane Maria.
Whereas, on September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico;
Whereas Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands were still recovering
from a direct hit by Hurricane Irma when Hurricane Maria made landfall
just 14 days later;
Whereas, on September 20, 2022, the people of Puerto Rico and the United States
Virgin Islands living on the islands, as well as those living in the
mainland United States, will commemorate the 5-year anniversary of
Hurricane Maria;
Whereas, after the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Hurricane Maria is the
second deadliest storm recorded in United States history;
Whereas the people of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands living in
both the mainland United States and on the islands of Puerto Rico and
the United States Virgin Islands have shown an incredible and resilient
spirit in rebuilding after their record losses;
Whereas Puerto Rico faced one of the longest blackouts in United States history,
during which millions of residents were left without power and basic
services for nearly a year, triggering crises of physical and mental
health, migration, housing, and infrastructure;
Whereas, 5 years since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, the
electrical grid in Puerto Rico remains unreliable, leaving millions of
people without a secure source of power as they suffer intermittent
brownouts and blackouts;
Whereas, due to the impacts of Hurricanes Maria and Irma, thousands of people in
Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands still have blue tarps
over their roofs;
Whereas, as a result of Hurricane Maria, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans
were uprooted, and some Puerto Ricans have relocated to the mainland
United States;
Whereas, due to unaddressed damage to homes in Puerto Rico, hundreds of Puerto
Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria continue to need housing assistance
from the territorial government and the Federal Government;
Whereas the economic health of Puerto Rico continues to waiver as the
preexisting debt crisis was exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane
Maria;
Whereas Hurricane Maria is the third most costly tropical cyclone in United
States history, with damages estimated at $107,100,000,000;
Whereas the Federal Government has allocated approximately $77,000,000,000 in
disaster-relief funding to help the people of Puerto Rico and the United
States Virgin Islands rebuild from other disasters that have impacted
the islands since Hurricane Maria;
Whereas, in Puerto Rico, the official death toll from Hurricane Maria stands at
2,975 victims, although some academic estimates place the toll at 4,645;
Whereas many of the underlying vulnerabilities contributing to the massive death
toll in Puerto Rico are still present, including an underfunded
healthcare system and a shortage of medical physicians and specialists;
Whereas the residents of Vieques, Puerto Rico, which number more than 8,000,
lost the primary hospital and do not have an adequate and comprehensive
healthcare facility;
Whereas, in a September 2020 report, the Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Homeland Security found that the Federal Emergency and
Management Agency (in this preamble referred to as ``FEMA'') mismanaged
the distribution of commodities in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria
in Puerto Rico;
Whereas FEMA lost visibility of approximately 38 percent of its commodity
shipments to Puerto Rico, worth an estimated $257,000,000;
Whereas, in an April 2021 report, the Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development found that the
administration of President Donald Trump created bureaucratic hurdles
that delayed approximately $20,000,000,000 in hurricane disaster
recovery and mitigation funds to Puerto Rico;
Whereas Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands continue to battle with
climate change, which has intensified tropical cyclones, rising
temperatures, coastal erosion, droughts, and flash floods, among other
climate events;
Whereas Puerto Rico continues to address and respond to other disasters,
including the earthquakes of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas millions of Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders still grapple with the
physical, emotional, and economic damages caused by Hurricanes Maria and
Irma; and
Whereas 5 years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico again faces devastation
following the landfall of Hurricane Fiona, leaving the over 3,000,000
residents of the island without power for multiple days, causing severe
flooding that has destroyed several structures, and exacerbating
conditions with the continuously fractured infrastructure and fragile
healthcare system in Puerto Rico: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) remains steadfast in its commitment to the people of
Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands to assist in
restoring the islands to their full potential; and
(2) resolutely assures that it will not abandon the plight
of--
(A) the millions of citizens of the United States
living in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin
Islands; and
(B) the citizens of the United States who have
relocated from Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin
Islands to the mainland United States in the aftermath
of Hurricane Maria.
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