A Legislative Win for the Northern Mariana Islands: House Passes SBA Microloan Access Act

The U.S. House of Representatives has delivered a welcome victory for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) by passing H.R. 3496, the Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Access Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by CNMI Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds, aims to correct a decades-old oversight in federal law by extending the Small Business Administration’s microloan program to the Northern Marianas. For the first time, entrepreneurs in Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and the rest of the CNMI would be eligible for SBA microloans of up to $50,000 – a tool every other state and U.S. territory has long been able to use to start and grow local businesses. The House’s approval of this measure is being hailed as a legislative milestone for the CNMI, one that promises to spur new opportunities for small-business development and job creation in the CNMI’s recovering economy. 

Closing a Long-Standing Gap in Small Business Support 

The SBA Microloan Program, created in 1992, provides small-dollar loans (capped at $50,000) through nonprofit intermediaries to help small businesses that might not qualify for traditional bank financing. Over the past three decades, the program has issued more than 69,000 microloans totaling over $900 million nationwide, supporting over 250,000 American jobs. Yet the Northern Mariana Islands remained the only U.S. jurisdiction left out of this program’s authorizing statute. The original law explicitly named all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa as eligible – but not the CNMI, which only established its formal U.S. territorial status in the late 20th century. This omission meant CNMI’s entrepreneurs and small businesses were barred from accessing SBA microloans, an exclusion that persisted for decades and put the islands at a disadvantage. 

H.R. 3496 finally closes this gap. The bill simply amends the Small Business Act to add “the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands” to the list of territories eligible for microloan funding. In practical terms, this would raise the number of states and territories served by the microloan program from 55 to 56, ensuring the Marianas are included on equal footing. Notably, Congress’s analysts found that including CNMI imposes no additional cost or reduction in other areas – the funding formula adjustment (from 1/55th to 1/56th of microloan funds per jurisdiction) would not diminish any other territory’s share under current funding levels. In short, it’s a common-sense fix to a statutory oversight, extending an existing federal support to American citizens in the Marianas with minimal fuss. “Including the Northern Mariana Islands in the SBA microloan program is a simple fix with meaningful benefits for our small business community,” Delegate King-Hinds noted when the bill was advancing in committee. Every other territory has had access to this program; with H.R. 3496, the CNMI will at last enjoy the same opportunity to obtain affordable capital that entrepreneurs elsewhere rely on to launch businesses, expand operations, and survive lean times.  

Delegate King-Hinds Leads the Charge in Congress 

This legislative victory owes much to the leadership of Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the CNMI’s delegate to the U.S. House, who introduced and championed H.R. 3496. Elected to represent the Marianas in Washington, D.C., King-Hinds made expanding small business support a priority from the start of her term. She identified the microloan exclusion as a glaring inequity and moved swiftly to address it, introducing the Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Access Act in May 2025. Over the ensuing months, she built bipartisan support for the bill on Capitol Hill. In November 2025, the House Small Business Committee unanimously approved the measure 27–0, with both Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) and Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) praising its merits. Williams noted that expanding microloan eligibility would “spark entrepreneurship, strengthen the local economy, and help [King-Hinds’s] constituents access more opportunities to grow.” Velázquez emphasized the unique challenges faced by Marianas businesses – from geographic isolation to a tourism-dependent economy – and argued that giving them access to affordable credit would help “weather the storms and economic uncertainty” and prepare for new growth. Such endorsements underscored that this fix was not only fair but a smart policy to bolster a community in need. 

With committee approval secured, King-Hinds steered the bill to the House floor. On January 20, 2026, H.R. 3496 passed the full House under suspension of the rules – a procedure for broadly supported bills – with overwhelming bipartisan support. This marks the second standalone bill introduced by Congresswoman King-Hinds to clear the House in her freshman term, reflecting an emerging track record of effective advocacy for her district. “For decades, every state and territory has had access to this program except the Northern Mariana Islands,” King-Hinds reminded colleagues during the floor debate. “This bill fixes that omission and gives our local entrepreneurs access to the same tools that small businesses across the country rely on to grow, create jobs, and survive tough economic periods.” Given the CNMI’s current struggles, the timing could not be better. The delegate highlighted that the islands are still in an economic crisis after the collapse of tourism, their primary industry, in recent years. Local small businesses have been struggling to stay afloat amid prolonged uncertainty and limited lending options. “Access to small-dollar, low-interest loans can make the difference between a business closing its doors or making the investments needed to keep people employed,” King-Hinds explained, urging her peers to support the bill. The House responded, passing the measure by the required two-thirds vote. 

All eyes now turn to the U.S. Senate, where the bill has been received and awaits consideration. If the Senate follows suit, the Northern Marianas will finally be written into the SBA microloan program’s law. King-Hinds has expressed optimism and is working to build support in that chamber, noting that the bill is a “no-cost, bipartisan, commonsense” step toward parity. For the CNMI, Senate passage would mark the culmination of a long effort to be recognized and included in federal small-business initiatives. 

Why Microloan Access Matters for Island Entrepreneurs 

For the small business owners of the Northern Mariana Islands, the House’s action is more than symbolic – it promises real, tangible impact on the ground. Local entrepreneurs and business advocates have lauded the bill’s passage as a long-awaited “leveling of the playing field” for the CNMI’s private sector. Absent microloans, many Marianas businesses have been starved of the affordable capital that peers in other jurisdictions take for granted. This has been especially painful in the CNMI’s context: the island economy is dominated by small enterprises in sectors like tourism, retail, and services, which face extraordinary hurdles due to the territory’s remote location and size. Geographic isolation drives up the cost of goods, shipping, and operations, and a relatively small consumer market limits revenue streams. Moreover, the CNMI’s heavy reliance on tourism means local shops and restaurants are vulnerable to downturns from global events or natural disasters. All these factors have made traditional bank financing either unavailable or prohibitively expensive for many island entrepreneurs. “Small businesses in the CNMI … often struggle to secure affordable financing to start or grow their operations,” observed Rep. Velázquez from her experience working with the territory. 

By unlocking SBA microloans, the Northern Marianas Small Business Access Act directly addresses this capital gap. New and existing businesses in the Marianas would, for the first time, have access to microloans at low interest rates to purchase equipment, buy inventory, hire employees, or simply stay afloat during tough times. Local entrepreneurs are already exploring what they could do with, say, a $20,000 or $30,000 infusion – whether it’s a farmer on Tinian investing in new tools, a tour operator in Saipan repairing and upgrading vehicles, or a cottage industry crafter on Rota buying materials in bulk. The consensus in the community is that this new source of credit will help spark fresh economic activity. One business owner in Garapan noted that even a relatively small loan could help her renovate her café and add jobs, something she couldn’t finance before. Others emphasize that microloans can provide a safety net during slow seasons, preventing permanent closures. These hopes echo the assessments of policymakers: extending the microloan program to the CNMI will be “critical to support business growth, create jobs, and stimulate the local economy,” as Rep. Velázquez noted on the House floor. Chairman Williams likewise predicted that greater access to capital will empower more Northern Marianas residents to launch new startups and expand existing businesses, fueling local job creation. In short, H.R. 3496 is seen as a catalyst for grassroots economic development in the islands – from the smallest family-run shops to budding tech and hospitality ventures – at a time when private-sector growth is sorely needed. 

Local organizations have welcomed the House vote. The Saipan Chamber of Commerce, for example, applauded Delegate King-Hinds for her focus on small business needs and expressed confidence that microloan availability will “open doors for budding entrepreneurs” across the CNMI. The Chamber noted that many members have never had access to SBA financing programs before and are eager to work with SBA-approved lenders once the bill becomes law. The CNMI Small Business Development Center (SBDC), established only in 2022, also hailed the bill’s passage. The SBDC’s advisors regularly encounter promising business ideas that falter due to lack of capital; they believe microloans could help turn more of those ideas into reality, strengthening the islands’ economic base. “It’s about time – our small businesses have needed this support for years,” one local baker commented, hoping the Senate acts quickly so 2026 can bring a wave of new investments and expansions in the Marianas. The excitement is tempered only by realism that the bill must still clear the Senate, but for now, CNMI stakeholders are celebrating this step toward financial inclusion. 

The Crucial Role of Representation for U.S. Territories 

Beyond its immediate benefits, the Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Access Act highlights a broader theme: the importance of having a voice in Washington, D.C. for America’s territories. The fact that the CNMI was left out of the microloan program in the first place – and that it took until 2026 to fix – underscores how easily territories can be overlooked in federal policymaking. When the SBA’s microloan program was launched in the early 90s, the Marianas had no voting representation in Congress. It wasn’t until 2009 that the CNMI gained a Delegate in the House. For years, the islands’ exclusion from various national programs often went unaddressed in Congress, simply because no one from the CNMI was at the table. “The underlying issue remains that the CNMI and its needs are not fully understood by those with authority and responsibility to respond,” Delegate King-Hinds has observed, noting that her home often has to fight to be heard in federal debates. Representation can make all the difference: it provides someone who can identify injustices or oversights and work to correct them. In the case of the microloan program, it was the presence of an empowered local representative – King-Hinds – that finally brought the issue to the forefront. “We took one step forward with the passage of legislation that recognizes the CNMI’s exclusion from an important small business program,” she said, framing H.R. 3496 as part of a larger effort to achieve equity. 

Other U.S. territories have similar stories of hard-fought inclusion. Congresswoman Velázquez recounted that in recent years she worked with then-Delegate Gregorio Sablan (King-Hinds’s predecessor) to establish an SBA Small Business Development Center in the CNMI and to open other SBA programs to the islands. Those advocacy efforts succeeded – the CNMI’s SBDC opened its doors in January 2022 – but only after legislation had to be pushed through to mandate it. An earlier attempt to bundle microloan access for CNMI into a larger bill fell short. These examples illustrate a key point: without champions in Congress, territories can languish under unequal treatment. Whether it’s disaster aid, Medicaid funding, or business loans, the territories often rely on their delegates and allies to press for fair inclusion in federal programs. Representation provides the platform to spotlight local needs and craft policy solutions, as well as to build coalitions in Congress that support Americans in the territories. In this case, King-Hinds secured cosponsors from New Jersey to California and won over the committee leadership of both parties, demonstrating how territorial delegates can exercise influence beyond their formal floor vote. It is a reminder that even though delegates from places like the CNMI, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico cannot vote on final passage of bills, they can write, advocate, and win approval for legislation that makes a real difference for their constituents. 

The microloan bill also raises the conversation of federal equity for territories. The U.S. citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands serve in our military, participate in our democracy, and contribute to our economy, yet too often have received unequal treatment under federal programs. By correcting one such inequality, H.R. 3496 symbolizes a push toward fuller inclusion of the territories in the American family. As King-Hinds put it, her bill “simply adds my district to the microloan program that is already available to all other Americans.” There is no justifiable reason that every other territory should have access to a small business loan program and not the Marianas. Congress affirming this principle in policy is a cause for celebration in the islands and sets a precedent that no U.S. community should be left out of opportunities for economic support. 

Conclusion: Toward Economic Growth and Federal Fairness 

In the Northern Marianas, the House passage of the Small Business Access Act is being greeted with gratitude, relief, and determination. It’s a clear victory for local small businesses, which stand to gain a new lifeline as they rebuild and diversify the islands’ economy. It’s also a personal victory for Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who promised to be a strong voice for her constituents and has delivered on that promise by navigating this bill through the House. Most importantly, it is a victory for the principle of fairness: the idea that U.S. territories deserve the same access to federal programs as any state. If the Senate follows through and the bill becomes law, the CNMI’s aspiring entrepreneurs will soon be able to tap into microloans – perhaps to open a new store, invest in fishing or farming equipment, or upgrade a local restaurant – and, in doing so, create jobs and spur economic growth for the community. Over the long term, observers predict this policy change could help nurture a more robust private sector in the Marianas, lessening the over-reliance on tourism and fostering home-grown industries. That means more startups launched, more family businesses sustained, and more local jobs supported – all critical elements of the Marianas’ long-range economic development strategy. 

Equally, this episode highlights why the American flag flies in places like the Marianas, Guam, and Puerto Rico with real meaning – because those communities, too, can have their voices heard in the halls of Congress. Representation and advocacy can translate into concrete policy changes that improve lives. The microloan fix is one small piece of a much larger puzzle, but it is emblematic of progress. As the CNMI’s story shows, achieving federal equity often comes one bill or program at a time. Each step – whether establishing an SBDC, extending a lending program, or securing a funding formula change – helps ensure that Americans in the territories are not left behind. The Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Access Act is one such step, a bridge connecting Washington policy to Main Street Saipan. It validates the efforts of those who have long said that the Marianas should be treated like any other community under federal law. And it sends a hopeful signal to the next generation of Marianas entrepreneurs that yes, support is available and your dreams matter. In the end, when every part of the United States – from the biggest state to the smallest island – has a fair shot at opportunity, the nation as a whole is stronger. The people of the Northern Marianas are celebrating that ideal this week, and looking ahead to a future where their federal government is truly a partner in their prosperity. Now, with Congress taking action, the door is open for the Marianas’ small businesses to thrive – and the “OPEN” sign is finally hanging on opportunity’s front door.