[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 20, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H7973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSFORM THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, first, I offer my prayers and the prayers 
of the people of the Virgin Islands for the people of Puerto Rico after 
the devastation of Hurricane Fiona. My colleague across the aisle, 
Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, knows that, like so many other issues, 
she has my support.
  Mr. Speaker, like many Virgin Islanders, September is a month forever 
etched in my mind. Five years ago on September 6, Hurricane Irma 
relentlessly pummeled the territory, and Virgin Islanders watched in 
mute shock as a Category 5 storm shredded roofs, uprooted trees, and 
shattered lives.
  Then, 2 weeks after Hurricane Irma, 5 years ago today, Hurricane 
Maria made landfall. For hours that stretched into the early morning, 
another Category 5 hurricane brought destruction across parts of the 
island that had not been shredded by Irma.
  The compounded impact of two Category 5 hurricanes is unfathomable. 
Virgin Islanders, undeterred by the dramatic scale of devastation, 
rallied in the face of tragedy and proceeded to rebuild their lives and 
our community.
  Virgin Islanders banded together to deliver food and medical 
supplies, organize cleanup initiatives, and volunteer to transport 
people and goods between the multiple islands and Puerto Rico.
  The response of this body, the House of Representatives, from 
leadership chairs to rank-and-file Members, was extraordinary. 
Ultimately, the dialogues and relentless advocacy were crucial to 
securing extraordinary funding and a significant change to the Stafford 
Act for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to not only provide 
necessary funding to rebuild but to rebuild with resiliency, to rebuild 
not as things were but as things should have been.
  Despite the tremendous bipartisan funding, however, recovery stalled 
during the Trump administration due to, frankly, a belief by that 
administration that the funding was too much for the people of the 
Virgin Islands and not the financial responsibility of the Federal 
Government. Money was slow-walked.
  Additionally, with the changes in law made by this Congress to allow 
the Virgin Islands to rebuild to prevailing industry standards, HUD, 
and especially FEMA, have had difficulty at the regional and local 
levels in accepting and implementing the changes in standards.
  In view of this and unnecessary government bureaucracy, I coauthored 
the Expediting Disaster Recovery Act, a bipartisan disaster relief 
bill, with my colleague Representative Garret Graves, which expedites 
the allocation of additional funds and assistance to cover unmet needs.
  Our isolation from the mainland and relatively small size created 
difficulty in obtaining supplies and workers, and the decision to 
report in to Puerto Rico added another layer of bureaucracy, further 
hindering the speed of rebuilding.
  I must be transparent by recognizing that, unfortunately, local 
government exacerbated the slow pace of the rebuild. The unprecedented 
funding was not met with sufficient macro planning. We did not use the 
first years after the storm and still have not sufficiently built 
capacity--training individuals while paying them to meet construction 
and project management demands, developing integrated fund and project 
management systems, aggressively recruiting experienced Virgin 
Islanders to return home to advance the rebuild, and educating the 
people to be prepared for spending the massive funding.

  Fortunately, there is a window of opportunity to jump-start this 
rebuild while Democrats remain in the majority, our President 
prioritizes resiliency in underserved areas that are particularly 
vulnerable to climate change, and our local and Federal elected 
officials maintain transparency and cooperation to advance this once-
in-a-generation opportunity to transform the Virgin Islands.
  I am continually encouraged by the grit and heroism exhibited by my 
people, the people of the Virgin Islands, who face the grueling task of 
rebuilding their lives with sheer tenacity and determination.
  Together, we have a shared responsibility to safeguard the future of 
these islands by ensuring that the Virgin Islands remain stronger and 
more resilient from the twin tragedies of back-to-back Category 5 
storms. The opportunity that lies before us is too great and meaningful 
to let pass by.

                          ____________________