CNMI says post-typhoon recovery requires fine-tuning federal policies
- Admin
- May 26
- 3 min read
By Jayvee Vallejera
The U.S. Congress must help the Northern Marianas rebuild toward long-term resilience by recalibrating obstructive federal policies, according to CNMI Del. Kimberlyn King-Hinds.
“Recovery cannot mean simply rebuilding what was already vulnerable. It must mean building stronger , securing real relief, and ensuring our people are not forgotten after the national spotlight moves on," she said speaking before her colleagues at the U.S. House of Representatives.
The CNMI was devastated by Super Typhoon Sinlaku, a Category 5 storm that reached a peak strength of 185 mph and directly struck both Saipan and Tinian, causing widespread destruction on April 14.
King-Hinds wants particular focus on the need for Congress to tackle the underlying issues that hamstring the CNMI’s efforts to recover and grow.
She pointed out that many of the challenges facing the CNMI and complicate its ability to recover stem from longstanding federal policies that should be changed.
“The purpose of the remarks was to broaden those conversations and make clear that the CNMI is working to recover from a major disaster while already operating under extremely difficult economic conditions," she said. "Those underlying conditions will affect both the pace and the extent of recovery."
Even before Super Typhoon Sinlaku hit, the CNMI was already under enormous strain. “Tourism had not recovered. Businesses were closing. Families were leaving. Air service was shrinking. Government revenues were collapsing,” King-Hinds said.
These did not happen in a vacuum, she said. “Disasters do not create weaknesses out of nowhere. They expose the weakness that already exists,” King-Hinds said. “And when a community has spent years operating at the edge, even a single storm can push entire systems toward failure.”
Many of these weaknesses were created by well-intentioned federal policies that backfire, becoming barriers rather than bridges to long-term economic sufficiency, King-Hinds said.
Too often, she said, federal policies that may work in the U.S. mainland do not work for small, remote island economies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“Places like the Northern Mariana Islands are left trying to survive under rules that were never truly designed for us,” she said.
This problematic one-size-fits-all approach to federal systems—built on the assumption that every community has the same market access and the same economic flexibility—has resulted in expensive airfares, massive outmigration, and the collapse of entire industries in the CNMI, King-Hinds said.
She did not specify these federal policies in her speech.
In the coming weeks, King-Hinds said she will work with her colleagues, federal agencies, and the Trump administration on proposals to address the underlying vulnerabilities Sinlaku exposed.
One of those weaknesses is the severe lack of construction workers in the CNMI. The lack of adequate manpower is hampering rebuilding efforts.
King-Hinds earlier announced plans she is planning to introduce a bill called the Labor Stabilization Act that intends to address the manpower shortage in the CNMI.
“We cannot simply rebuild to 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.
Recovery becomes far more difficult and far more costly when a community is already economically fragile before disaster strikes, King-Hinds said. This makes it necessary for federal response and recovery efforts to recognize the realities the CNMI was already facing before the typhoon.
King-Hinds said recovery is more than about rebuilding structures. “People need to believe there is long-term stability and opportunity here. That means ensuring the CNMI has a viable path toward economic recovery and long-term resilience,” she said.
King-Hinds also frames the CNMI’s recovery and its future as a robust U.S. territory in terms of serving national security.
She said there is significant interest in the region right now because of the CNMI’s strategic location and its role in maintaining a strong American posture in the Indo-Pacific.
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“But there is still work to do in helping policymakers understand that national security in the region begins with having a strong and economically viable American community here at home,” she said.
That means continuously engaging with and educating lawmakers and the White House on what a sustained American presence in the Pacific actually requires, she added.
The United States’ strength also depends largely on how it projects itself to the rest of the world.
“The United States presents itself to the world as a nation of opportunity, stability, and resilience. An American community in a strategically sensitive region experiencing the deterioration of infrastructure, public services, and economic conditions sends the wrong message internationally,” King-Hinds said.
A strong national security posture in the Pacific ultimately depends on strong American communities in the Pacific, she added.
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