By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
and Bernadette H. Carreon
Horizon news staff

Another Continuing Resolution is seen to resolve the issue on the Annual national Budget as the fight over policy matters continued between the majority bloc in the House of Delegate and the Executive Branch.
This after the President Remengesau vetoed two bills in five days regarding the 2007 fiscal year budget and the extension of expiration date for Lands and Surveys and Land Court.
The deadline for resolving the budget issue has lapsed on Dec. 31, which would mean that the national government is operating with practically no budget at all.
But despite of this, the President expressed his willingness to agree on a Continuing Budget Authority.
House committee on Ways and Means and Financial Matters chairman Antonio Bells said that a continuing resolution budget is the only logical approach left for both the Senate the HOD in order for the national government to operate.
Bells, however, believes that this is just temporary and that the House is doing everything to come to terms with their colleagues in the Senate.
The Senate was holding a session as of presstime last night to break the impasse.
Senate Public Information Officer Reblud Kesolei reserved any comment on what issues to tackle until after the Senators held their special session.
But House Speaker Augustine Mesebeluu is anticipating a HOD session to be held at 12 noon today following the President’s veto of the second bill.
Mesebeluu said it came to his attention that the president vetoed it at about 1 a.m. on January 1.
“We have said before that we don’t want a shutdown in operation of the national government. We have agreed as much as possible to come to terms with the Senate,” said Mesebeluu.
Due to disagreements on policy decisions, Remengesau on Thursday Dec. 28 vetoed Senate Bill No. 7-178,SD7, HD7, CD1, PD1.
Remengesau specifically mentioned some of the issues that he said are unacceptable portions of the Budget Act such as the section that mandates the closure of the Consulate offices in Guam and Saipan by Sept. 30, 2007.
The President said that while the OEK holds the power of the purse and may zero out appropriations for such offices, it does not have the Constitutional authority to decide which international offices are necessary.
Another issue that the president raised was on the OEK’s attempt to mandate the hiring of a Director of the Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction within the next 120 days. The President also is the issue on the Financial Institutions Commission, which he said has a difficult job meeting the challenge due to the closure of Pacific Savings Bank.
He said that instead of giving money to the FIC or the Attorney General to hire additional counsel, accountants or bank examiners, “you have chosen to set up a completely new system, a so-called independent Special Prosecutor.”
On Pension Plan issue, the president said that “our pension plan is woefully under funded and this challenge must be addressed in a meaningful manner.”
He said that funding of $400,000 for this purpose from the money available for expenditure this year is simply insufficient to resolve the problem.
The president also said that while a practical solution needs to be reached regarding rental payments to states and payments owed to the national government by states, placing this provision in the Budget, he said, at this point jumps the gun.
Other issues the president raised that he said are unacceptable include presidential programming, appointment and removal of the public auditor, State CIP funding and funding levels.
The president told the lawmakers to shift their priorities so that the immediate needs of the people for health and safety and financial security could be met.
The Senate unanimously overrode the veto but the HOD failed to override it with a 7-5 decision on the 12 Delegates present.
Instead another bill was introduced and both the HOD and the Senate passed HB NO. 7-150, 22S, SD1 (Extension of Expiration Date for Lands and Surveys and Land Court).”
The bill contained riders on the same issues that the President said were unacceptable.
Thus, the president “expectedly” vetoed it.
The president explained that the veto is not aimed at part of the bill that addresses the BLS and LC saying that due to the time constraints regarding the budget portion, he had no sufficient time to evaluate the LC portion or to solicit needed comments on its merits.
The president said that in vetoing the 2007 budget bill, he said he offered a one-month Continuing Budget Authority bill as a compromise.
He stressed that although a Continuing Budget Authority is not a perfect solution, it is a temporary stop-gap measure that allows the government to continue providing services to the people while “we work through our disagreements.”
“Instead of passing this measure, you have chosen to return the exact same budget to me that I have already disapproved. Your decision to reject this compromise reveals a troubling lack of commitment on your part to solving this budget impasse. And your attempt to force my hand at this late hour is a perverse political ploy that will not work,” the president said.
The president reminded the lawmakers that “this is not a competition where one side wins and the other loses.
“As elected officials we were chosen by the people to work together to move our country forward. When in the course of negotiations we choose to argue rather than talk – to fight rather than negotiate – we all lose. And it is the people of our nation who rather bear the consequences of that failure,” he said.
The president said that budget bills should address the monetary needs of the government and the people but instead, the president said, that he was handed a budget that contains numerous riders, which have little to do with budgeting “and even less to do with solving the everyday problems of the Palauan people.”
Going with the veto, the president has issued a Memorandum asking the government employees to work on a voluntary basis until further notice. (See separate article).
The president said “the New Year gives us an opportunity to set aside our differences and to pledge ourselves anew to the difficult task that lies ahead.
He said that he stands ready to approve an appropriate budget bill, which could take in the form of a Continuing Budget Authority or a bill that addresses the monetary needs of the nation free of the political riders that he has rejected on many occasions.
The president said it is the decision of the lawmakers that is at hand.