CNMI Del. Kimberlyn King‑Hinds delivered an urgent appeal on the U.S. House floor Thursday, warning that the Commonwealth’s aging infrastructure, fragile economy and slow‑moving federal policies have left the islands dangerously exposed — a vulnerability laid bare by the devastation of Super Typhoon Sinlaku.
Speaking on May 14, King‑Hinds told colleagues that the Northern Mariana Islands are not only geographically distant — nearly twice as far from Washington, D.C., as Moscow — but are also living with systems “decades behind the rest of our country.”
“Our power infrastructure was built over 40 years ago. Our water systems were built generations ago,” she said. “Long before Super Typhoon Sinlaku struck our islands this year, our economy was already under extraordinary strain.”
King‑Hinds described an economy weakened by years of declining tourism, shrinking air service, business closures and falling government revenues. Those pressures, she said, were compounded by federal policies that often treat remote territories as if they operate under mainland conditions.
“One‑size‑fits‑all federal policies may work on the mainland, but they do not work for small, remote island economies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” she said. “When transportation policies fail to account for isolation, we pay more. When healthcare systems fail to account for remoteness, people leave.”
Sinlaku, she said, pushed already‑strained systems to the brink. Weeks into the recovery, more than 5,000 residents have registered for FEMA individual assistance, and nearly half of surveyed households reported major or catastrophic damage. Entire islands lost power and water. Hospitals, schools, ports and government facilities were forced into emergency operations.
“National media attention has already begun moving on,” King‑Hinds said. “But for us, this is not a headline. This is home.”
She argued that the storm did not create the Commonwealth’s vulnerabilities — it exposed them. And those weaknesses, she said, have implications far beyond the islands.
“A collapsing utility system is a national security issue,” she said. “The inability of American territories to sustain population, workforce and economic activity in a strategically important region is a national security issue.”
King‑Hinds said she will work with federal agencies and congressional colleagues in the coming weeks on proposals to address the structural problems that Sinlaku revealed. Rebuilding, she said, cannot simply restore what existed before.
“We must build systems that are stronger, more flexible, and actually designed to give communities like ours a chance to survive and grow,” she said.
The delegate closed by reminding lawmakers that the Northern Mariana Islands live a day ahead of the mainland — and often experience the nation’s future first.
“Recovery is not only about debris removal and emergency response,” she said. “It is about whether American communities still have a future once the cameras leave and the attention moves on. For the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, that question is immediate. It is urgent, and it deserves the attention of Congress.”
