Recognizing the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Maria's destruction of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.

The resolution commemorates the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Maria's landfall in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, highlighting its catastrophic impact. The Category 4 hurricane, which struck while the islands were still recovering from Hurricane Irma, resulted in over 4,000 deaths and caused the longest electrical blackout in U.S. history. It also crippled communications, triggered widespread landslides, devastated the agricultural sector with $780 million in losses, and led to massive displacement and a severe mental health crisis. Despite significant federal allocations from FEMA and HUD, the resolution notes that bureaucratic delays and bottlenecks have severely hindered reconstruction efforts and prolonged hardship. It emphasizes that underlying vulnerabilities, such as an underresourced healthcare system and fragile infrastructure, continue to persist, leading to frequent power outages. Therefore, the House of Representatives urges the Federal Emergency Management Agency to expedite the full disbursement of critical recovery funds . It also calls upon Congress and the Administration to prioritize resilient infrastructure investments , including modernizing the energy grid and strengthening healthcare capacity, to ensure equitable disaster recovery for future natural disasters.