The senators made significant changes to the House version of the fiscal year 2011 budget bill before they passed it on Tinian last Friday by a vote of 8-0.
Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, Ind.-Saipan, was absent.
House Bill 17-96 now returns to the House of Representatives.
The House wanted to give each lawmaker $130,000 in annual discretionary fund and provide the House and Senate leadership with $200,000 each.
But the senators brought down these amounts to $86,000 and $76,000 — their current levels.
Senate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, said there will be no increase in the discretionary funds.
In an interview, Reyes, R-Saipan, said he expects the House to reject the Senate amendments.
This means that a bicameral conference committee will be convened to iron out the differences between the two houses.
But Reyes said it is possible the budget bill will be held “hostage” in the House.
Without a new balanced budget before Oct. 1, the government, with the exemption of critical services, will shut down and lawmakers will not be able to collect their salaries.
Reyes said some members of the House leadership are not afraid of a shutdown because they have other sources of income.
“But I still hope they will not hold the budget hostage. Too many people are at stake,” he said.
During the session on Tinian, the Senate convened as a Committee of the Whole so that Public School System and Northern Marianas College officials as well as representatives of the judiciary could air their concerns.
The House budget bill imposed significant cuts on PSS, NMC and the judiciary.
During the session, Reyes moved for the “return” of the $1 million that the House took from the government’s scholarship program.
The senators provided an additional $173,000 for PSS; $600,000 for NMC; and increased the judiciary’s budget from $2.9 million to $3.5 million.
