[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 51 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 51
Marking the four-year anniversary of the devastation of Puerto Rico and
the United States Virgin Islands by Hurricane Maria.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 20, 2021
Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Torres of
New York, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Soto, Mr. Sires, and Mr. Grijalva)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Marking the four-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 U.S. 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, 2021, the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands living on the islands as well as those living on the mainland
will acknowledge the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria;
Whereas Hurricane Maria is the second deadliest storm in recorded United States
history after the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900;
Whereas the people of Puerto Rico living on both the mainland United States and
the island 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,
where millions of residents were left without power and basic services
for nearly a year, triggering physical and mental health, migration,
housing, and infrastructure crises;
Whereas four years since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, the
electrical grid on the island remains unreliable leaving millions
without a secure source of power as they suffer intermittent brownouts
and blackouts;
Whereas thousands of people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands still
have blue tarps over their roofs due to the impacts of Hurricanes Maria
and Irma;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans were uprooted and some have
relocated to the mainland United States as a result of Hurricane Maria;
Whereas hundreds of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria continue to need
housing assistance from the territorial and Federal Government due to
unaddressed damage to their homes on the island;
Whereas Puerto Rico's economic health continues to waiver as the preexisting
debt crisis was exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane Maria;
Whereas Hurricane Maria is the third most costly United States tropical cyclone
recorded, with damages estimated at $98,100,000,000;
Whereas the Federal Government has allocated almost $72,000,000,000 in disaster
relief funding to help the people of Puerto Rico and the United States
Virgin Islands rebuild from disasters since Hurricane Maria struck;
Whereas the official death toll from Hurricane Maria now stands at 2,975 victims
in Puerto Rico, although some academic estimates place the toll at
4,645;
Whereas many of the underlying vulnerabilities contributing to the massive death
toll on the Island, such as an underfunded healthcare system and a
shortage of medical physicians and specialists are still present;
Whereas the over 8,000 residents of the island municipality of Vieques, Puerto
Rico lost their primary hospital and to this date, do not have an
adequate and comprehensive healthcare facility;
Whereas the Federal Emergency and Management Agency (FEMA) Office of the
Inspector General found in a September 2020 report FEMA mismanaged the
distribution of commodities in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in
Puerto Rico;
Whereas it is known that FEMA lost visibility of approximately 38 percent of its
commodity shipments to Puerto Rico, worth an estimated $257,000,000;
Whereas the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the
Inspector General found in an April 2021 report the Trump administration
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 U.S. Virgin Islands continue to battle with climate
change, which has intensified tropical cyclones, rising temperatures,
coastal erosion, droughts, flash floods, among other climate events;
Whereas Puerto Rico continues to address and respond to other disasters,
including the 2020 earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic; and
Whereas millions of Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders still grapple with the
physical, emotional, and economic damages caused by Hurricanes Maria and
Irma: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) remains steadfast in its commitment to the people of
Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands (referred to
in this resolving clause as the ``U.S. Virgin Islands'') to
assist in restoring the islands to their full potential; and
(2) will resolutely assure that it will not abandon the
plight of--
(A) the millions of citizens of the United States
living in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; and
(B) to the citizens of the United States who have
relocated from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
to the mainland of the United States in the aftermath
of Hurricane Maria.
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